Beach Volleyball World Tour Can Further Promote Langkawi

LANGKAWI (Kedah, Malaysia) April 14 (Bernama) -- The opportunity to host the 2017 Beach Ball Malaysia Open World Tour Series can be used to further promote Langkawi as a sports tourism destination. Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) chief executive officer, Azizan Noordin said Friday this was the first time that Langkawi was chosen as the location for the international-level competition to be held for two days beginning tomorrow (Saturday). "I hope the participants of the competition will have an exciting experience throughout the competition and come to Langkawi again as tourists in future," he told Bernama after observing preparations for the competition at Pantai Cenang, here. He also expressed his appreciation to the Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) and the championship's organisers, E-Plus Global Sdn Bhd for choosing Langkawi as the location for the competition. "I hope the championship will run smoothly and give an opportunity to Langkawi to become the location for the championship in the years to come," he said. Meanwhile, the chief executive officer of E-Plus Global, Andrew Ching said thousands of beach volleyball fans were expected to witness the competition involving 32 teams from 17 nations. He said Australia, Austria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Spain, Estonia, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Romania, South Africa, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Switzerland and the United States would be taking part in the competition. "Many of the teams that had confirmed their participation had arrived Friday to undergo training and familiarise themselves before the competition," he said. He said that Langkawi was the second location after the first series held in Shepparton, Australia. -- BERNAMA