The FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch World Tour returns to Prague from May 17-22 as the Czech Republic capital prepares to host its third "open" international beach volleyball event after successful tournaments in 2008 and 2010. Similar to previous years it will again be a single-gender event for the men with last year's American champions Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser sure to aim for back-to-back wins. The pair beat Brazilians Alison Cerutti and Emanuel Rego in the final as they clinched a second U.S. medal in the Czech Republic. World champions Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany joined the two tandems on the podium after seeing off China's Wu and Xu, Brink equalling his best finish at the event following a silver-place finish in 2009 with then partner Christoph Dieckmann. Prior to the 2008 event, the Czech Republic had staged FIVB Challenger events in Karlovy Vary (1997) and Brno (2006 and 2007). The Czech Republic’s Michal Biza and Martin Lebl won the 2007 Challenger by defeating Canadians Jessi Lelliott and Martin Reader in the finale. Brazilians Rodrigo Monteiro and Hevaldo Moreira won the 2006 Brno stop by defeating Simon Dahl and Stefan Gunnarsson of Sweden for the gold medal. Future Olympians competed for the 1997 Karlovy Vary title as Swiss brothers Laciga (Martin and Paul) defeated Vegard Hoidalen and Jorre Kjemperud of Norway in the finals. With a population of over 1.2 million, Prague is situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia and is the political, cultural, and economic center of the Czech state for over 1,100 years. Prague is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and is among the most visited cities on the continent. Since 1992, the historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities", "city of a hundred spires" and "the golden city". Prague opera, theatre, sightseeing, restaurants & nightlife make this the most exciting city in Central Europe. Pictured below to the left is American gold medal winner Phil Dalhausser spraying the bubbly at the 2010 Prague Open .