The FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour reaches day two of the latest event and has the backing of both Finland and Sweden federations.
It is very rare for a leg on the Swatch World Tour to be supported by two federations but this is the case with the PAF Open this week.
The PAF Open will take place on the Isle of Åland at Mariehamn and will again have the support of both the Finnish and Swedish Volleyball Federations when it takes place.
Åland is situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia and forms a Swedish-speaking administrative province, region and historical province of Finland.
This is only the third time in Beach Volleyball history that national federations have joined forces to host a FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour event. The aim of this process is to help contribute to the development of Beach Volleyball in Finland and Sweden and both Volleyball associations see Åland as the perfect spot to host the world’s best men’s and women’s players.
In last year’s tournament China's Chen Xue and Zhang were crowned women's champions and USA's Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser took the men's title.
In taking home the gold Xue and Zhang beat defending champions Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca of Brazil, knocking them to the second spot on the podium, just ahead of bronze medallists Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil.
In an entertaining men's final Rogers and Dalhausser squared up against Brazil's Marcio Araujo and Ricardo Santos, and finally took the spoils in an end-to-end encounter with China's Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu claiming third place.
To watch the rest of the Swatch World Tour just follow these simple steps:
2. Register a new account (it´s free)
3. Select volleyball>streaming
4. Sit back and choose which match to watch Live.