The three-day tournament has attracted 41 teams from 13 countries, including 19 men's teams, to vie for the top honour and the shared Bt616,000 cash prize.

The visiting teams come from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

This year's event will be played under the double elimination format and will run until Tuesday, while the 7th Asian Beach Volleyball Tour will be held at Samila Beach in Songkhla from Friday to Sunday.

The draw, which took place yesterday, sees three Thai women's pairings of Kamolthip and Jarunee - the tournament's third seeds - SEA Games silver medallists Yupa Phukrongploy and Usa Tenpaksee and the Asian Junior U-20 silver medallists Supannee Doksantia and Nonglak Khorsoongneon enjoy a first-round bye. However, an uphill task awaits the Supannee-Nonglak and Yupa-Usa pairings when they challenge Kazakhstan's Yefina Ydkaterina and Issayeva Lyudmila and Indonesia's Gina Indri Andriyana, respectively, in the second round. Kamolthip and Jarunee will face the winners of the match between New Zealand A and Laos.

Meanwhile, Sitthichai Sangkhachot and Artit Wongtorn, of the Thailand B team, face Sri Lanka in their opening match of the men's category. Thailand's A and C teams received a first-round bye, but they will battle it out in the all-Thai affair in the second round.

Today's opening ceremony will be televised by Channel 11 from 3pm.

Somporn Suphop

The Nation

Phatthalung