Phnom Penh, Cambodia, February 18, 2019 - After a six-week break in the action, the international circuit resumes play here Thursday where 39 teams from 20 countries have entered the second annual Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival.
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The 2019 Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival is the first of four FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour events to be staged in Cambodia during the 2018-2019 season as the Cambodian capital will host the women's-only tournament Thursday through Sunday (February 21-24) at the National Sports Complex.
A second women's event in Cambodia on the international calendar will be from April 4 to 7 in Battambang. Sandwiched between the two women's events in the southeastern Asian country will be men's-only tournaments in Kg Speu from March 7-10 and Siem Reap from March 21-24.
With 2018 Phnom Penh champions Anna Behlen and Sarah Schneider of Germany not in the 2019 field, last year's silver medal team of Sayaka Mizoe and Suzuka Hashimoto of Japan will get a second opportunity to secure the top spot on the Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival after dropping a 2-1 (17-21, 21-9, 15-8) to the Europeans in last May’s 50-minute finale.
Host Cambodia will have two teams in the Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival, including Mak Chanda/Soeu Sreynat and Oeum Chansophy/Tom Kanha. All four players will be competing in their first-ever FIVB World Tour event as Cambodia did not enter a team in the 2018 Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival when 29 countries from 17 countries competed for the medals.
Qualifying at the US$25,000 Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival will be on Thursday followed by pool play Friday and Saturday followed by the semifinal and medal matches Sunday. The winning team will share the $4,000 first-place prize.
Following the Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival women's event, the FIVB World Tour returns to India for the first time since 2010 with Visakhapatnam hosting the Vizag Open February 28 through March 3. The FIVB-sanctioned men's and women's challenger/satellite events in India in 2008 and 2010 were at Chennai, which is located nearly 800 km (500 miles) south of Visakhapatnam on the Bay of Bengal.