BEACH VOLLEYBALL OLYMPIC TEST EVENT - LONDON

A bird's-eye view of the venue in Horse Guards Parade with Trafalgar Square to the right and Buckingham Palace towards the top left (photo courtesy of Julie Oakman (LOCOG))

The venue for the Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International, the test event for the London 2012 Olympic Games, is nearing completion in Horse Guards Parade in the UK capital.

As this stunning shot taken last weekend shows, the temporary 1,500 capacity stands are up around the main court as well as the two practice courts and training courts ready for the competition, which will run from August 9 to 14. Come 2012 the venue will be much larger with a 15,000 seat temporary stadium set to be erected.

The bird's-eye view of the venue in Horse Guards Parade sees Trafalgar Square to the right, St James' Park (which is where the training courts will be based during the Olympic Games) and Buckingham Palace towards the top left.

The event is already gaining attention in the UK and last Friday British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the site.

A number of world class teams will attend the competition in a week’s time, including 2009 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch world champions Americans Jen Kessy and April Ross as well as bronze medallists from the most recent World Championship and the Beijing Olympic Games China’s Chen Xue and Xi Zhang.

First Results

Pool F
36	11-Aug	12:45	C	Zhang CH. N.-Ding Jingjing CHN [18]	Lili-Vieira BRA [19]
35	11-Aug	11:50	C	Candelas-Garcia MEX [6]	Hochevar-Rutledge USA [7]
24	10-Aug	14:35	C	Hochevar-Rutledge USA [7]	Lili-Vieira BRA [19]	1-2 (18-21, 21-19, 11-15)	0:52
23	10-Aug	11:50	C	Candelas-Garcia MEX [6]	Zhang CH. N.-Ding Jingjing CHN [18]	2-0 (21-10, 21-17)	0:30
12	09-Aug	11:23	C	Hochevar-Rutledge USA [7]	Zhang CH. N.-Ding Jingjing CHN [18]	2-0 (21-18, 21-14)	0:33
11	09-Aug	10:00	C	Candelas-Garcia MEX [6]	Lili-Vieira BRA [19]	2-1 (21-19, 26-28, 16-14)	1:05
Pool E
34	11-Aug	10:55	C	Bansley-Maloney CAN [5]	Cook-Hinchley AUS [8]
33	11-Aug	10:00	C	Simon-Andrea ESP [17]	Shun Thing-Teck Hua MAS [20]
22	10-Aug	17:25	C	Cook-Hinchley AUS [8]	Shun Thing-Teck Hua MAS [20]	2-0 (21-13, 21-16)	0:30
21	10-Aug	12:45	C	Bansley-Maloney CAN [5]	Simon-Andrea ESP [17]	2-0 (21-19, 21-19)	0:43
10	09-Aug	12:45	C	Cook-Hinchley AUS [8]	Simon-Andrea ESP [17]	2-0 (21-8, 21-16)	0:33
9	09-Aug	11:50	C	Bansley-Maloney CAN [5]	Shun Thing-Teck Hua MAS [20]	2-0 (21-15, 21-19)	0:36
Pool D
32	11-Aug	20:10	C	Vivian-Lima BRA [4]	Boulton-Johns GBR [9]
31	11-Aug	20:10	1	Broder-Voth CAN [16]	Hunkus-Lowe USA [21]
20	10-Aug	19:15	C	Vivian-Lima BRA [4]	Broder-Voth CAN [16]	2-0 (21-12, 21-18)	0:31
19	10-Aug	16:30	C	Boulton-Johns GBR [9]	Hunkus-Lowe USA [21]	2-0 (21-19, 21-14)	0:37
8	09-Aug	18:00	1	Vivian-Lima BRA [4]	Hunkus-Lowe USA [21]	2-0 (21-13, 21-17)	0:31
7	09-Aug	16:30	C	Boulton-Johns GBR [9]	Broder-Voth CAN [16]	2-0 (21-10, 21-11)	0:29
Pool C
30	11-Aug	19:15	C	Kessy-Ross USA [3]	MacTavish-Rodrigue CAN [10]
29	11-Aug	18:20	C	Graumann-Anu EST [15]	Nammanda-Alice UGA [22]
18	10-Aug	20:10	C	Kessy-Ross USA [3]	Graumann-Anu EST [15]	2-0 (21-15, 21-11)	0:30
17	10-Aug	18:20	C	MacTavish-Rodrigue CAN [10]	Nammanda-Alice UGA [22]	2-0 (21-15, 21-5)	0:23
6	09-Aug	18:20	1	Kessy-Ross USA [3]	Nammanda-Alice UGA [22]	2-0 (21-6, 21-8)	0:24
5	09-Aug	16:30	1	MacTavish-Rodrigue CAN [10]	Graumann-Anu EST [15]	0-2 (17-21, 19-21)	0:37
Pool B
28	11-Aug	14:35	C	Xue-Zhang Xi CHN [2]	Elwin-Matauatu VAN [11]
27	11-Aug	13:40	C	Roubanis-Papageorgiou GRE [14]	Sinnema-Wiltens NED [23]
16	10-Aug	10:55	C	Elwin-Matauatu VAN [11]	Sinnema-Wiltens NED [23]	2-0 (21-14, 23-21)	0:34
15	10-Aug	10:00	C	Xue-Zhang Xi CHN [2]	Roubanis-Papageorgiou GRE [14]	2-0 (21-16, 21-11)	0:29
4	09-Aug	14:35	C	Xue-Zhang Xi CHN [2]	Sinnema-Wiltens NED [23]	2-0 (21-15, 21-8)	0:27
3	09-Aug	13:40	C	Elwin-Matauatu VAN [11]	Roubanis-Papageorgiou GRE [14]	2-0 (21-13, 23-21)	0:36
Pool A
26	11-Aug	17:25	C	Santiago-Acevedo PUR [13]	Clancy-Hynes AUS [24]
25	11-Aug	16:30	C	Mullin-Dampney GBR [1]	Wang Fan-Y.Y. Ma CHN [12]
14	10-Aug	21:05	C	Mullin-Dampney GBR [1]	Santiago-Acevedo PUR [13]
13	10-Aug	13:40	C	Wang Fan-Y.Y. Ma CHN [12]	Clancy-Hynes AUS [24]	2-0 (21-16, 21-15)	0:32
2	09-Aug	18:20	C	Mullin-Dampney GBR [1]	Clancy-Hynes AUS [24]	2-0 (21-10, 21-13)	0:30
1	09-Aug	17:25	C	Wang Fan-Y.Y. Ma CHN [12]	Santiago-Acevedo PUR [13]	2-0 (21-10, 21-17)	0:28