In 2006, FIVB president Dr Ruben Acosta visited the kingdom and signed a two-year contract with the General Organisation for Youth and Sports, on behalf of the Bahrain Volleyball Association, to host world beach volleyball events in Bahrain.

A new contract has still to be signed, however, leaving an uncertain future for the kingdom as hosts on the global circuit.

“We really hope that the tournament comes back here,” Bahrain Open technical supervisor Dirk Decher told the GDN.

“The FIVB wants it here and the players want it, but the local federation has to make a very quick decision. A new deal has to be signed soon because the FIVB deadline is at the end of this month.

“We are proud to have this tournament here in Bahrain – you have the perfect venue, good conditions, and the environment is really good, especially the sand.

“For the FIVB, we see the Tour as a big family all over the world, and we like to have different stages on the family map, and Bahrain is very important.”

Swatch is celebrating 25 years of existence these days.

The company which brought back to life the Swiss watchmaking industry when Nicolas Hayek released a whole new line of plastic watches consisting of 12 eye catching designs, is not doing anything too special to commemorate its quarter of a century of pioneering.

With over 5000 watch models released over 25 years, there are no rumors that Swatch may prepare any particular watch model to celebrate its birthday, unlike its competitor Casio who’s celebrating the 25^th year of its G-Shock brand by releasing new models almost every month.

I’m a little disappointed, but it’s still possible that we may see some surprising releases soon.