The success of FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour Sanya Open has helped improve the popularity of the sport in China, said FIVB president Mr. Wei Jizhong on Wednesday after attending the official opening ceremony of the event Wednesday morning.

Jiang Sixian, deputy governor of Hainan Province and Wang Yong, city mayor of Sanya, also presented at the opening ceremony.

"We are very happy to find a remarkable increase both in quantity and quality of participating teams at the Sanya Open compared with last year," said Mr. Wei. "First of all, it is in the same direction of the development of beach volleyball all over the world. We have tried really hard to promote beach volleyball events worldwide and from the change happening this year we can say that our efforts paid off."

"Secondly, the London Olympic Games will be held next year, thus many teams are trying to collect points for qualification of the Olympics. It also contributes to the success of this year' s Sanya Open."

"I think the Sanya Open is popular among players also because they are satisfied with the sand, court, atmosphere and everything here in Sanya. The hotel is really close to the venue, which made it very convenient for the players."

"The success of Sanya Open has obviously boosted popularity of the sport in China. For a very long time, China only stages one or two SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball events every year. The number increased to three this year and maybe we will have four events held in China next year."

Following the Sanya Open, a double gender SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour open event will be held in Shanghai with another double gender SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam event set for June 6-11 in Beijing.

The Sanya Open is the first of three single-gender events for women in the 2011 season, which also includes two single-gender events for men along with 12 double-gender events and a special 24-team Olympic test event in London August 9-14.

Featuring two-time Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh from the United States, Brazilian star combination Juliana Felisberta/Larissa Franca as well as Sanya Open title winning teams from 2008 to 2010, namely Jennifer Kessy-Boss/April Ross of the United States, Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr from Switzerland and Xue Chen/Zhang Xi, the Main Draw will kick off on Thursday with the finale set for Sunday.