SWATCH FIVB World Tour lands in Paris for the fourth straight year

(BEIJING, June 17) -- For the fourth straight year, SWATCH FIVB World Tour lands in France. The event kicks off on the Champ de Mars near Eiffel Tower in Paris, as reported by the FIVB website.

As the US duo Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh and Brazilians Emanuel Rego/Ricardo Santos have just claimed the first placement for SWATCH FIVB World Tour Berlin stop over the weekend, they automatically turn gold-medal favorites in Paris. May-Treanor/Walsh and Emanuel/Ricardo will be defending their 2007 Henkel Grand Chelem titles now and here. With their 32nd gold medals newly claimed in Berlin, both teams now tie with the legendary Brazilian pair of Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede for winning the most team SWATCH gold medals.

Country Quota competition starts on Monday for women and Tuesday for men, followed by women's qualifiers on Tuesday and men's qualifiers on Wednesday, in which the final eight Main Draw spots will be determined.

Main Draw events for women will be played on Wednesday while men's scheduled for Thursday. The Champ de Mars will stage semi-finals for both genders on Saturday, with medal matches to come on Sunday.

After the Henkel Grand Chelem, SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slams will be staged in Norway (Stavanger), Moscow, Switzerland (Gstaad) and Austria (Klagenfurt) as part of the Olympic qualifying process.