After staging women’s FIVB Challenger/Satellite events in Pattaya (2001), Bangkok (2005) and Phuket (2005), Thailand will be hosting a women’s event on the 2009 SWATCH FIVB World Tour calendar for the fourth-straight year. The 2005 Phuket stop served as a prelude to the inaugural SWATCH stop in Thailand in 2006 where the competition was part of the Andaman Festival to mark the first anniversary of the Tsunami of 2004.  Jen Boss and Heather Lowe won the 2001 Pattaya event for the United States while China’s Linjun Ji and Whenhui You captured the Bangkok stop. Lijun Ji was 18 years old when she won the event to become the youngest player ever to win “any” international Beach Volleyball event at the time.  Eiko Koizumi and Shinako Tanaka captured Japan’s first-ever international Beach Volleyball gold medal by winning the 2005 Phuket event.  After upsetting reigning Olympic champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States in the semi-finals, then 17-year old Chen Xue and her then 21-year old partner Xi Zhang upset Chinese rivals Jia Tian and Jie Wang for the 2006 gold medal.  May-Treanor and Walsh maintained their podium spot in 2007 by defeating American rivals Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs in the finals. Branagh and Youngs advanced to the gold medal match by upsetting Tian and Wang in the semi-finals.  Boss and new partner April Ross (pictured to the right) won the second-straight All-American finale by defeating Branagh and Tyra Turner 18-21, 21-14 and 15-12 in the 63-minute 2008 gold medal match.  Phuket, the biggest island in the Thailand, is mostly mountainous with a mountain range in the west of the island from the north to the south.  Phuket is about the same size as Singapore with a population of about 250,000. The dominant religion is Theravada Buddhism, although a vast diversity of religions and art forms flourish in Phuket's multiracial environment, making it distinct from other areas of Thailand.  Phuket is also the natural base for exploring the Andaman Sea, which extends from Koh Surin National Park on the border with Myanmar to the north; to Koh Tarutao National Park on the border with Malaysia to the south; and to the Andaman Islands in Indian territory far to the west.