Pingtan Island in Chinese city Fuzhou will play host to the first-ever Beach ParaVolley (Standing) World Series event later this year ©World Para Volley

Pingtan Island in China will play host to the first Beach ParaVolley Standing World Series event later this year, it has been announced.

The event, entitled the Pingtan Beach World Series Open, is due to take place from May 9 to 12.

World ParaVolley says it will focus its international events on the beach standing discipline as it bids to secure the sport’s place on the Paralympic programme at Los Angeles 2028.

In July, World ParaVolley President Barry Couzner said the push for Paralympic inclusion had the "personal backing" of International Paralympic Committee (IPC) counterpart Andrew Parsons.

He claimed Parsons’ supported the organisation's bid after the Sitting Volleyball World Championships in The Netherlands.

"Following the decision by the World ParaVolley General Assembly to have Beach ParaVolley in the LA2028 Paralympic Games as a major goal, and with IPC President Andrew Parsons' personal backing behind the bid, I’m pleased to say Beach ParaVolley is on the move," Couzner said at the time.

The Pingtan Beach World Series Open is the first of World ParaVolley’s planned events for the sport’s Paralympic campaign.

World ParaVolley President Barry Couzner said last year that momentum is building for a bid to include beach volleyball at the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games ©World Para Volley
World ParaVolley President Barry Couzner said last year that momentum is building for a bid to include beach volleyball at the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games ©World Para Volley

Another Zonal Open event and a World Championships are set to be staged in 2019 in order to establish the Beach ParaVolley (Standing) World Series and give teams from all over the world a chance to compete at the highest level.

The momentum to have the sport included in the Paralympics started to build last year with 12 teams from across Latvia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Uzbekistan and hosts Kazakhstan participating in a Beach ParaVolley Standing event and Brazil staging the Decathlon Beach ParaVolley Standing Tournament in Campinas.

The event on Pingtan Island could have male, female or mixed teams, depending on entries that are scheduled to be confirmed in March.

Teams may come from any World ParaVolley zone.

Pingtan is the fifth largest island in China, located on the east coast of Fujian province, and connected by a five kilometres bridge to the mainland.

It is claimed promoter Yiming Sports will support the event with "all of the necessary infrastructure and services".

This will be in cooperation with World ParaVolley.