By Tom Degun

Youth Beach VolleyballApril 10 - The European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) have announced their beach volleyball qualifying tournament for the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games.


Beach volleyball will make its debut at the Youth Olympics next year as it was not included at the inaugural edition of the Games in Singapore in 2010, where only the indoor version of the sport was held.

The European qualifying event will be the CEV Youth Continental Cup which will begin later this year and conclude with the final round in May next year.

The event will see many of Europe's most promising duos in action with 33 teams set to take part for six  qualification spots at Nanjing 2014.

The draw sees Pool A consists of Germany, Norway, Belgium and Iceland with Pool B featuring Czech Republic, Slovakia, Netherlands and Britain.

Pool C has Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Malta and Serbia while Pool D consists of Austria, France, Portugal and Liechtenstein.

Pool E has Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Hungary; Pool F has Latvia, Finland, Croatia and Belarus and Pool G has Ukraine, Greece, Albania and Cyprus.

Pool H, the final Pool, has Russia, Israel, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

All tournaments are double-gender events with every country lining up one female and one male duo each, with the first-ranked and runner-up of each Pool making it to the final, where they will get a shot at one of the six spots for Nanjing 2014.

"We are extremely pleased to add this competition to our portfolio," said CEV President André Meyer.

"It provides young players with a unique opportunity to represent their country on the international stage and to test out their skills as they share the ultimate dream of every sportsperson; to one day become an Olympian."

A detailed calendar of the Zonal Phase, including the venues, is due be released in the coming weeks.

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