Thai spikers face tough challenge as world's best hit beach in Chon Buri

The week-long tournament features 49 women’s teams from 20 different countries vying for the top honour and a share of the US$190,000 prize money.

The seeded teams in the top-flight tournament come from seven different countries – Brazil, Switzerland, Germany, the US, Russia, the Netherlands and Spain. The US are fielding the largest entry of seven teams, followed by Germany with six.

Host Thailand has entered five teams, three for the main draw and two for the qualifying rounds.

This is the first time Bangsaen has hosted the FIVB Swatch World Tour with Phuket having previously taken the honour since 2006, with China winning twice to the USA’s four titles.

Leading the field this year are Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta da Silva, recently crowned as 2012 World Tour champions. Their debut on Thai sand will also be their last event together, as the Brazilian duo have decided to split after nine successful years.

The 2012 Olympic bronze medallists will compete for the title with top teams like Jennifer Kessy and April Ross. The American pair claimed silver at this year’s Olympics and have tasted success before in Thailand. Kessy and Ross won the Phuket event in 2008 and 2009 and finished second last year.

Second seed Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr are also targeting a medal in Bangsaen. Kuhn, 32, is retiring after this season she will want to give long-time partner Zumkehr a nice farewell present. Other contenders are third-seed Germans Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler.

Thailand’s hopes for a medal rest with Varapatsorn Radarong and Tanarattha Udomchavee. Varapatsorn finished 13th last year with Kamoltip Kulna, the best result ever for a Thai team on the World Tour. This year, Varapatsorn and Tanarattha have achieved promising results in Asia, winning three legs of the Asian Tour and gold at the Asian Beach Games.

The annual tournament kicks off today with the country quota competition, while the qualification rounds will start tomorrow, followed by the main draw from Wednesday to Friday.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday, followed by the televised bronze medal match and final on Sunday.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour attracts huge international interest with worldwide TV coverage for over 700,000,000 households. In Thailand, NBT, T-Sport and SVTV will cover the semi-finals and finals on Saturday and Sunday from 4pm to 6pm.

“We decided to switch the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour from Phuket to Bangsaen because we want to boost the sport’s popularity among local fans. In Phuket, most attention was from foreigners, but here in Bangsaen, we predict that we will receive more interest from home fans,” said Geoffrey Rowe, managing director of Pentangle Promotions and tournament director.

“We also received kind cooperation from Chon Buri and Saensuk City in making this tournament a success. I hope this time, Thai players will fare much better than the previous years,” he added.

The Bangsaen Thailand Open powered by PTT is supported by the Sports Authority of Thailand, PTT, Chon Buri Provincial Administration Organisation, Saensuk City, ThaiBev, Tourism Authority of Thailand, TOT, FBT, Philips Lighting and TP Link.