The sun was shining, the courts were up and the players were ready for the third leg of the Scottish Beach Volleyball Tour, which was back at St Andrews for the King and Queen of the Beach event - the first time this format has been run in Scotland.

The event is entered individually and players play in pools of 4 playing with each player in turn and against the remaining 2 players. After the 3 matches, the top 2 players in terms of points won progress to the next round of pools, the losers going into playoff pools.

The usual suspects came through the qualifying rounds with Mel Coutts, Christine Schulte, Claire Penny and Rocio Crespo qualified from the semi-finals, beating some good opposition along the way. But it was Coutts who won her third Scottish Beach Tour title after a long day’s play to win the women’s event, winning all her matches in the final pool.

In men’s division 2, Roman Li came through to take the title. Men’s division 1 started on time and began with some good matches. Top seeds Barry McGuigan and Gordon Teoh progressed swiftly through the semi-finals and into the final pool to be joined by two unexpected finalists in Fifer Stuart Brown and the Teemu Niskanen from Finland.

All the matches were tight in this final pool and it came down to the last match between McGuigan and Brown against Teoh and Niskanen. The match was won by Teoh and Niskanen, but only just 15-14, 15-14 and the final points tally gave McGuigan the title.

A great tournament played in a great spirit. Many thanks to all who helped set up and pack away and a special thanks to Mary Cook who helped me all throughout the day.

See you all next year!

Colin Paterson