This year, Younousse will be competing alongside Júlio César Do Nascimento Júnior as they take on teams from Austria, Canada, Germany, Poland, Russia and the United States.

He and Pereira beat Russia's Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Artem Yarzutkin 21-13, 14-21, 15-12 in the 2016 final, becoming the first pairing from their nation to win a World Tour medal. 

The four-day three-star competition, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow, is for male players only.

A law restricting female access was introduced at volleyball matches in Iran in 2012 as an extension of a similar ban in football, but when contacted by insidethegames, the FIVB confirmed all members of the public will be able to attend this year’s event.

The law generated worldwide condemnation in 2014 following the arrest of British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami, for attending a World League match.

Ghavami, arrested for "propaganda against the regime", spent 151 days in Evin prison before she was released and charges were eventually dropped.

The FIVB repeatedly pledged to have the ban fully lifted before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games but failed to do so in the face of religious and political opposition.

In October, the world governing body claimed they have been greatly encouraged by the "small positive steps" taken to allow women to attend volleyball events in Iran.

They reiterated that their position had not changed regarding awarding events to the Islamic country, despite Human Rights Watch (HRW) issuing a fresh call to bar the nation from staging competitions until the ban on women attending matches is lifted.

HRW made the call in a letter sent to FIVB President Ary Graça following his election for a fresh eight-year term in office in Buenos Aires.

Making volleyball a "family-friendly" sport was cited as one of his key objectives.

Some women were turned away during last year's event in Kish Island, although others did attend and the FIVB claimed the problems were only due to a "misunderstanding".

Now in its second edition, the event will see hosts Iran represented by three pairings in the main draw - Rahman Raoufi and Bahman Salemiinjehboroun, Abhamohammad Salagh and Abolhamed Mirzaali and Abbas Pourasgari and Arash Vakili.

Mojtaba Amiri and Mohammad Sadeghi Malati will also represent Iran in the qualification round.

Raoufi is one of the most seasoned players in Iran with more than 100 international caps.

He has been in the beach volleyball programme for 14 years, while his partner Salemiinjehboroun has been so for three.

The pair have won Asian Beach Tour titles in Indonesia, Oman and Thailand.

Salagh started his career in volleyball before making an early shift to beach volleyball.

He has also played in more than 100 international matches with his best finish coming at the Asian Men's Beach Volleyball Championship in 2011, when he won gold.

Partner Mirzaali has earned one gold, three silver and five bronze medals in his young beach volleyball career.

Pourasgari and Vakili have ambitions of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as do Amiri and Sadeghi Malati. 

The venue for the World Tour event, the Kish Marine Recreational and Sports Complex, has hosted numerous beach volleyball events, including three editions of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Beach Volleyball Tour.

The sports complex is located at the men's beach area of the island and was rebuilt for the FIVB World Tour.

It now has four courts, including the main competition court that can accommodate 1,500 spectators.