9/09/09

City of Edinburgh's Mel Coutts and Denise Austin from Devon won their country quota match today in the European beach volleyball event in Blackpool. After losing the first set 21-19 to Helen Brown and Liane Herbert things were not looking good, however the experienced pair of Coutts and Austin turned the match around to easily take the second and third sets 21-11, 15-6. They now enter the qualification event tomorrow.

Winners of Portobello 2009, Phil Smith and Tom Lord won their country quota match against Jake Sheaf and Josh Randall, 21-14, 21-16 to take them into tomorrow's qualification tournament.

10/09/09

Coutts and Austin lost their first round match against a tough German pairing, Laboureur and Schillerwei, 21-19, 21-18. The Germans went on to put out the number 1 seeded Swiss pair in the next round.

Lord and Smith also lost their first round qualification match, 21-12, 21-13 against French pair Gagliano and Lacombe.

Former City of Edinburgh player, Robin Miedzybrodzki playing with relatively new partner John Garcia-Thompson, won their first round in qualification today, beating Dutch pair Mopman and Vismans 21-16, 21-17. Unfortunately they GB pair lost their final qualification round to the number 3 ranked team, Skarlund-Spinnangr from Norway, 21-18, 21-16.

The main draw start tomorrow with Gooding-Sheaf, Weaver-Grotowski, Mullin-Dampney and Johns-Boulton all keeping the GB flag flying.

11/09/09

The GB women had a poor draw today, being drawn against each other in the first round of the main draw. This time Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton came out on top, winning 21-17, 21-17. Shauna Mullin and Zara Dampney had a chance to redeem themselves in their second match, however they lost to a German pair, Fischer and Großner, 21-13, 21-17 and are now out of the competition.

Johns and Boulton had a fantastic result in the second round, beating the 4th seeded Latvian pairing of Minusa and Jursone. This puts them through to Saturday where they will meet the number 1 seeds in the Schwaiger sisters from Austria.

GB men haven't faired so well today. Luke Sheaf and Jody Gooding had the toughest draw of the competition in the first round, having to play the number 1 seeds, and recent winners on the World Tour, Brink and Reckermann from Germany. Sheaf and Gooding lost this match 21-10, 21-15. In their second match they also lost to the number 8 seeds, Mesa-Lario from Spain, 21-16, 21-18, and so exited the competition.

Gregg Weaver and Steve Grotowski also had a tough first round, facing recent World Tour semi-finalists, the Ces brothers. The GB boys lost 21-17, 21-16. In their second match Weaver and Growtowski narrowly lost to qualifiers Skarlund-Spinnangr, who put out Miedzybrodzki and Garcia-Thompson on Wednesday, 21-17, 23-21. This means they are eliminated from the competition.

12/09/09

Denise Johns and Lucy Boulton narrowly lost their first match on centre court today against the number 1 seeds, the Schwaiger sisters from Austria, 21-19, 21-19. Their second match of the day against the number 3 seeds, Nila and Ingrid from Norway, produced yet another upset for the GB pair. They won 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 17-15) which took them into the semi-finals.

The semi-final didn't go the British pair's way, however. They lost this 21-15, 21-18 against an unbeaten Czech pair, Hajeckova and Novakova. This means they will play for the bronze medal at 1200 British Summer Time tomorrow (Sunday 13th Sept), live on www.laola1.tv - a rematch against the Schwaiger sisters from Austria - bring it on!

13/09/09

Boulton and Johns returned to centre court today in the Women's Bronze Medal match. The Brits didn't come away with a medal  this time though, that went to the number 1 seeds, Doris and Stephanie Schwaiger from Austria, 21-14, 21-15. All the same, a fantastic result from the British girls. Well done!!

You can watch highlights of all matches played yesterday and today at www.laola1.tv