Beijing to host beach volleyball again

BEIJING - Three years after hosting beach volleyball at the 2008 Olympic Games, Chaoyang Park will see the world's top players gather again from June 6-11 when the World Tour Grand Slam series makes its Beijing debut.

"We are really happy and excited to come back to Beijing. We have really good memories of the Olympic Games and I believe it is great news for all the players to know that they can play here again," Dirk Decher, a technical adviser of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIV), the sport's ruling body, said on Tuesday.

"We really missed the wonderful site and I believe the fans missed the players too," Decher said of the Olympic venue, which claims its sand from Hainan Island and boasts a world-leading seating capacity of 12,000.