Coming up this week is the 6th World University Beach Volleyball Championship that will shake the sands of Maceió (Alagoas) in Brazil between September 12th and 16th. Some 40 pairs representing 17 countries from the Americas, Europe and Asia are confirmed to participate in this FISU event.

“This is the first time that Brazil hosts an edition of the FISU WUC Beach Volleyball, one of the technically strongest competitions in the calendar of FISU. And to stage this event in Maceió, one of the birth cities of Beach Volleyball in Brazil, will be even more special”, said Luciano Cabral, president of the Brazilian Confederation of University Sports (CBDU) and vice-president of FISU.

The Pajuçara Beach will play host to the WUC. An arena with a capacity for 1,800 spectators was built in Pajuçara and besides the games a series of cultural activities and sports clinics will involve children, local youth and residents of the capital of Alagoas.

The matches of the 2012 WUC Beach Volleyball will start on Wednesday, September 12th and continue through Sunday, September 16th. The Opening Ceremony is scheduled on September 11th. Players from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Paraguay, Japan, Poland, China, Slovakia, Thailand, Russia, Spain, United States, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Austria and Chinese Taipei are confirmed to compete on the sands of Maceió.

More info can be found on the website of the Organising Committee at http://wc.cbdu.org.br/index&wc=287 and www.fisu.net.

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FISU stands for Federation Internationale du Sport Universitaire (International University Sports Federation), founded in 1949. FISU’s main responsibility is the supervision of both Summer and Winter Universiades as well as the World University Championships. The Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival which is staged every two years in a different city and which is second in importance only to the Olympic Games.

The Summer Universiade consists of 13 compulsory sports (Athletics – Basketball – Fencing – Football – Artistic & Rhythmic Gymnastics – Swimming – Diving – Water Polo – Tennis – Table Tennis – Judo – Volleyball) and up to three optional sports chosen by the host country. The record figures are 9,006 participants in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2007 and 174 countries in Daegu, Korea in 2003.

The Winter Universiade consists of 7 compulsory sports (Alpine Skiing – Nordic Skiing composed of Ski Jump, Cross Country & Combined – Biathlon – Ice Hockey – Short-Track Speed Skating – Figure Skating – Curling) and one or two optional sports also chosen by the host country. The Winter Universiade gathered a record 2,511 participants in Torino in 2007 and a record number of 52 countries in Erzurum, Turkey.

The World University Championships are organized every even year in sports which do not figure on the compulsory Universiade program. In 2008, a record of 29 different WUC were staged all over the world.

For more info or pictures, do not hesitate to contact FISU Media department at media@fisu.net or surf to www.fisu.net.