Olympic players, including Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena, fresh off their loss in the beach volleyball quarterfinals in Rio, will next compete in Long Beach just next week.
The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) tour is slated to kick off in Long Beach for the fourth consecutive year with the Asics World Series of Beach Volleyball (AWSOBV) on Alamitos Beach, featuring 61 men’s teams from 28 countries and 62 women’s teams from 22 countries, according to a release.
Last year’s competition prominently featured 2004, 2008 and 2012 gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and Dalhausser, who won Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008.
Players have the opportunity to win a portion of $800,000 at the series, which is the conclusion of the FIVB tour. The gold medal teams look to split $57,000 and 800 points, while the silver will split $43,000 and 720 points and the bronze $32,000 and 640 points.
On the women’s side, Larissa Franca/Talita Antunes, from Brazil, will be likely leading the field. Both teams advanced to the quarterfinals in Rio.
In all, 14 men’s Olympic teams and 16.5 women’s teams will appear next week on the sands of Alamitos Beach.
“We had to make it scalable—we had to host the event in a city that could accommodate large events,” said Asics World Series organizer Leonard Armato of the event in Long Beach last year. “Our event was designed to showcase the amenities of the city. We’re excited to see everything come together, and we’re excited to partner with Long Beach for the event.”
This report was updated on 08/22/16 at 2:02PM, removing erroneous information that the Brazilian players were all female.
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