Graça met with Chernyshenko to discuss the legacy of the tournament, scheduled to take place from August 26 to September 11 across 10 Russian cities next year.

Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, All-Russian Volleyball Federation President Stanislav Shevchenko and Roman Stanislavov, general director of the Organising Committee for the 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Championships, also attended the meeting, as reported by Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

Russia was permitted to keep the World Championship, after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accepted it would be "legally and practically impossible" to strip the nation of the event.

Under the terms of the range of punishments imposed on Russia by WADA and partially upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the country cannot host major events - defined as World Championships by the global anti-doping watchdog - for the two-year period in which they apply.

But the FIVB claimed WADA had acknowledged it would not be possible to move the tournament from Russia and reassign it to another country to comply with CAS.

Graça believes staging the event in Russia will play a key role in developing the sport in the host nation.

"It was an honour and pleasure for me to meet with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin," said Graça.

"We were able to carefully examine the fundamental principles underlying the further development of volleyball in Russia in order to use the legacy and encourage more people to practice this sport.

"We also explored ways in which the energy and momentum from hosting world-class volleyball tournaments can be harnessed to dramatically improve participation in the sport at all levels."

Moscow, St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Yaroslavl and Belgorod are due to stage matches at the World Championship.

Russia has never hosted the FIVB World Championship but the Soviet Union did so in 1952 and 1962.

The country has not won the event since the break up of the Soviet Union, which claimed gold in 1949, 1952, 1960, 1962, 1978 and 1982.

"Volleyball is the second sport in the country in terms of the number of people involved," said Chernyshenko.

"Our clubs show decent results - the CEV [European Volleyball Confederation] Cup final was Russian, and Dynamo Moscow won the cup.

"Together with the FIVB President, we were able to truly assess the potential of Russian volleyball and how it can be brought to a higher level, from mass to professional.

"Next year, 10 Russian cities will host the World Championship.

"This tournament will create a new generation of volleyball fans in Russia, while developing a sport that has a solid foundation in the country."

The FIVB has launched its official "#Electrifying2022" video to generate excitement for both the men’s and women’s World Championship.

The women’s event is set to be staged in The Netherlands and Poland from September 23 to October 15 next year.