Quang Ninh (VNA) - The Tuan Chau-Ha Long women’sbeach volleyball 2019 tournament opened on May 9 in the northeastern coastalprovince of Quang Ninh with the participation of 26 teams.
After the opening ceremony, the first match of the worldtourney between host Vietnam and Russia took place.
The four-day event sees athletes from 13 countries andterritories, including Austria, Denmark, Japan, Thailand, and the US. It is a sharpincrease of participants compared to last year, which involved 18 teams.
Luong Quang Binh from the provincial Department of Cultureand Sports said this year is the first time the tournament has seen theparticipation of young athletes from countries in Europe and America wherebeach volleyball is popular. He said it is a chance for Vietnamese players tolearn from their strong competitors.
All matches will be aired live on VTV6. The event is anactivity to welcome the Ha Long-Quang Ninh tourism week, which entails variousactivities held across the province – home to the UNESCO World Natural Heritagesite Ha Long Bay
In 2018, the province hosted the National Tourism Year underthe theme “Ha Long – Heritage, Wonder, Friendly Destination”. It welcomed arecord of over 12 million tourists, up 24 percent year-on-year.-VNA