A "serpentine system" will be followed in the draw in Gstaad, Switzerland, on July 26, to determine the exact seeding in the Pools of the 24 Men's teams and 24 Women's teams that will compete in Beijing.

In both tournaments there will be six pools (A-F), each containing four teams. From the top six seeded teams in the FIVB Beach Volleyball Olympic ranking, the N°1 seed will be placed in Pool A, the N°2 seed in Pool B and so on to the N°6 seed being placed in Pool F. If host country China has one of the top six seeded teams, that team will automatically become the N°1 seed and be placed in Pool A, while if the top Chinese team is ranked from 4th to 24th, that team will become the N°6 seed and be placed in Pool F.

There will be a meeting the evening after the drawing of lots to determine the match and television schedule of the first two days of the Preliminary Rounds.

In order to respect the universality principle of the Olympic Games : A team to be eligible will have to take part in at least eight Olympic Qualification Tournaments - A maximum of two teams per country is allowed among the 24 teams - One of the 24 places is granted to a team from host country China - In the event that a continent does not have any teams qualified, the 23rd place (and, if applicable, the 22nd, etc.) of the Olympic Qualification ranking is granted to the highest-ranked eligible team from that continent.

Ruedi Kunz, Director of the Swatch FIVB World Tour 1 to 1 Energy Grand Slam that runs through July 21-27 and host the drawing of lots, said: "We will give everything to ensure a successful event and a perfect preparation for the Olympics for all teams".

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