Top PH beach volleyball teams vs the world…

Beach Volleyball Republic (BVR) returns in blazing fashion to host the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Boracay Open 2019 featuring 48 teams from countries all over the world from May 23 until May 26 at the White House Beach Resort, Boracay Station 1 and will be shown on an ABS-CBN Sports platform. 

Twenty-eight teams will be competing in the Men’s Division while 20 pairs will dispute supremacy in the Women’s Division for the tournament that is being held in the country for the second-straight year.

The Philippine contingent for this year is composed of three pairs for the Men’s Division and five for the Women’s Division

Competing in the Women’s Division are Negrense pair Dij Rodriguez and BVR founder Bea Tan; UST’s Genesa Eslapor and Belove Barbon; Iloilo’s DM Demontano and Jackie Estiquia; the Iloilo and Negros connection of Fiola Ceballos and Patty Orendain; and the team of Bernadeth Pons and UAAP Beach Volleyball queen, Sisi Rondina.

Leading the battle in the Men’s Division is the Cebuano pair of Jade Becaldo and Mike Abria. They will be joined by the likes of teammates Ranran Abdilla and Jesse Lopez and the pair of James Buytrago and Anthony Arbasto, who hails from National University (NU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST) respectively.

Winning teams will earn points and get a shot at joining the prestigious FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Finals.

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is the new system which employs star points for the biggest circuit of beach volleyball in the world. Teams that accumulate certain points from competing in tournaments that enables them to earn star points over a total of 47 tournaments in a calendar year.

Aside from the three-day tournament, BVR is also spearheading a beach cleanup drive at Boracay along with a Sandroots Beach Volleyball workshop with the players teaching aspiring youth about the sport.

BVR had another calendar year in 2018, where it successfully staged nine two-day tourneys, visiting provinces and their breath-taking beaches in Ikthus beach, Ilocos Sur, White Beach, Puerto Galera, Sta. Ana Cagayan, Bantayan Cebu, Blue Beach Dagupan, Legaspi, Gran Ola Surigao, Lio Beach El Nido, and Dumaguete, while also holding a National Championship tourney and a FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour leg.

Bea Tan, one of BVR’s founders expressed gratitude to the organizations and athletes that believe and support in BVR’s mission to grow the sport in the Philippines and that one of the biggest achievements for the girls who built BVR was the holding of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour leg for the second year in a row.

“We’re looking at this FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as a long term project. We want to annually be able to hold this big tournament here which is not only an opportunity for our beach volleyball aficionados but for the international community to take notice of the Philippines’ potential as a beach volleyball hub,” she shared.

For news and updates on the tournament, head to sports.abs-cbn.com or follow @abscbnsports on Facebook and Twitter. Also follow @BeachVolleyballRepublic on Facebook and Instagram, and @bvr_ph on Twitter.

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