World-class beach volleyball set for return
Hot on the heels of a gold-medal triumph by Greek beach volleyball duo Vasso Karandasiou and Vicky Arvaniti at a world tour event in Norway over the weekend, Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis held a news conference yesterday to discuss an upcoming world tour competition in the Greek capital later this summer. The world’s leading players, both men and women, will do battle at the Olympic Beach Volleyball facility between August 30 and September 4. Bakoyannis, at the news conference, described the sport as a «magical combination of sports, entertainment and music that is developing at a rapid pace throughout the world.» The sport apparently began developing in Hawaii and in Santa Monica, California, in the early 1920s. It became an official Olympic sport in 1996, at the Atlanta Games. Beach volleyball ranked as one of the five most popular events at last summer’s Athens Olympics.
