Snow volleyball will make case to become Olympic sport

Snow-volleyball

There are already 17 European countries hosting national snow volleyball championships. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

A snow volleyball exhibition is planned for Pyeongchang to help the sport’s international governing body make the case for it to be added to the Olympics.

If successful, volleyball would be the first sport to be on the program at both the Winter and Summer Games .

Snow volleyball is similar to the beach discipline, with two-person teams. With many of the tournaments hosted by ski resorts as a diversion for their guests, it also borrows the party atmosphere of the sandy side of the sport.

But those who have played it say the cold and snow are new challenges that make it a very different sport.

The exhibition on Feb. 14 at the Austria House will include Olympic medallists from the beach and indoor disciplines, as well as South Korean players.

There are already 17 European countries hosting national snow volleyball championships and a tour that will culminate in an inaugural European championship in Austria in March.

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