Gwangju, South Korea.— Sandy beaches, waving palms, salty air and the gentle caress of waves on the seashore.
That's the normal ambience of beach water polo, which is rippling around the world.
In an effort to showcase this important adjunct of our tremendous game of water polo, FINA is staging seven days of beach water polo during the first week of the FINA World Championships.
Four men's and four women's teams will contest an exhibition series, albeit within the confines of a temporary swimming pool at the Nambu University Grounds.
France, China, Canada and Argentina will front for the men's matches and United States of America, Australia, Spain and China will contest the women's matches.
The matches are played with the beach water polo rules with fewer players and a smaller pitch.
Four matches will be played from 09:00 to 14:15 on Saturday, July 13 and then two matches daily during the break in the world championship programme — 14:15-16:00.
Saturday's schedule has USA and China women opening the programme followed by France-Argentina men, Australia-Spain women and China-Canada men.
Check out the matches and see why many nations are now focusing their efforts on this shorter version, which assists especially those countries without adequate water polo pools.
The code has been played extensively in places like Italy and Croatia and is rapidly taking a grip in Australia and New Zealand.