2017-06-26 09:00:00 CET
Poreč are you ready?
Good morning! We have the sea air in our faces and the sun gloriously beating down on us. It must mean one thing: we’re in Croatia and ready to get our game faces on for the third instalment of the Poreč Major.
As you can imagine, a bucket-load of hard work has already gone into making yet another incredible week a reality for the third year running…and the players haven’t even volleyed a Mikasa over the net yet.
It promises to be a week full of sun, sand, sea and sport as 64 of the world’s best beach volleyball teams go head-to-head, aiming for a spot on the podium and a share of the whopping USD 600,000 in prize money that’s up for grabs.
Tomorrow 32 qualification matches are crammed into nine hours of fast-paced on the sand, starting at 10:00 and ending at 19:00 CET. Come the end of the day we will know the identity of the eight men’s and women’s teams joining the 24 automatic main draw entrants.
The pool play gets under way on Wednesday and that, you lovely beach volleyball fans, signals the true start of the tournament, as the twists and turns of the tournament take us through to the knock-out rounds.
Of course, this year we also have the added bonus of night matches, which were so popular at the Fort Lauderdale Major back in February.
The games under the stars take place every day between Wednesday and Sunday and then the weekend’s crept up on you and BANG! We’ve got the finals to look forward to!
In the meantime, it might be a good time to sign yourselves up to our social media accounts, just so you don’t miss any of the action as and when it happens. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat (@swatchmajors) and we’ve got it all!
And if reading’s your thing, we’ve got a whole host of articles ready and waiting for you to read – just click here!
See you @ the beach!
Read the third installment of Ben Saxton's Swatch Major Series blog
Stunning comeback gives Brazilian qualifiers gold