Day 1 of the inaugural SCD European Beach Volleyball Finals in Perth, with the best teams in Scotland in action against international opposition.
Taking place over three days, this SCD Beach Volleyball event is a European competition and teams including Luxembourg, San Marino, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales are taking part alongside a number of Scottish National teams (men and women). The tournament takes place in conjunction with the ever popular Scottish Open Volleyball Tournament, which celebrates it’s 30th tournament this year.
With the recent announcement that beach volleyball will feature at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the event is an important staging post on the way to the Gold Coast in a couple of years time. While the exact qualification process for the Gold Coast games has yet to be announced, this tournament will give the Scottish teams invaluable international level competition, and is also an opportunity to pick up points that will help them move up the CEV (European volleyball) and FIVB (global governing body) ranking lists.
The top women’s Scottish pair is Lynne Beattie (GB captain of the indoor team at London 2012) and Mel Coutts, who have their sights set firmly on qualification for the 2018 Games. They will be up teams from Luxembourg, Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as fellow Scots Shauna Meidybrodski (Shauna Mullen, London 2012 Olympian) and Anneka Hastings who make up a pairing to watch, and a third Scottish pairing Jennifer Thom and Joanne Morgan (London 2012 Olympian) who have just started playing together this season and are sure to be hot on the heels of the more senior teams.
Meanwhile in the men’s draw ones to watch for Scotland include Robin Miedzybrodzki and Seain Cook, who are also also looking to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. They will be up against some stiff opposition on the Perthshire sand from Luxembourg and San Marino as well as some fellow Scottish pairings new to the beach scene. Cook, who hails from Perth, is sure to be well supported by his family and local fans as they strive for a Gold Medal and valuable ranking points for their upcoming trips to Baden and Vaduz for the CEV Satellites.
A fantastic weekend of volleyball is in prospect with over a 1,000 spectators expected to watch the matches on the specially constructed sand courts at Bell’s Sport Centre. And with lots of other events taking place around the volleyball it will make for a great festival atmosphere for the teams to play in front of.
Today’s action features the pool stages in both the men’s and women’s competitions with teams seeking qualification for the main draw.
First match is at 10am with action continuing throughout the day.
Admission is free to all spectators on all three days of competition.
The action continues on Saturday with more pool stage matches followed by the main draw.