PHUKET'S annual international beach volleyball tournament is in danger of not being staged this year because millions of baht is needed to sponsor the event.

The volleyball, staged annually over four days on the beach at Karon, costs six million baht to stage . . . and this year there is no major funding sponsor so far.

Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation Chief Officer Paiboon Upatising said today at a meeting with Phuket tourism leaders that the volleyball organisers had sought funding but the PPAO was not able to help.

News of the shortfall emerged by chance in a discussion about international events of the kind Phuket needs to recover quickly. Funding for the volleyball usually came from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Khun Paiboon said.

''Indonesia or Malaysia will love to take Phuket's place for this wonderful event,'' Khun Paiboon said.

TAT regional director Bangornrat Shinaprayoon later told Phuketwan that the funding usually came from the Bangkok head office of the TAT.

The only hope for a sponsor of the tournament may now lie with the local Karon Municipal Authority. Like the PPAO, however, their cash is likely to be committed already to other projects.

The women's beach volleyball, part of the FIVB world tour and Thailand's national open title, is usually staged in late October or early November.

With athletes in bikinis and a sunny beach backdrop, the Karon tournament has become a fixture on the Phuket sporting calendar at the beginning of each high season. Admission is free.

Last year American pair of Jen Kessy and April Ross captured their second successive Phuket Thailand Open title, walking off the sand with the winners' check of US$30,000.

The tournament was the largest on the 16-stop tour, with 66 teams from 28 countries taking part.