By SKIP BANDELE
Tennis
The third edition of the Seat Open de Portugal Beach Tennis was held at Praia da Rocha over the weekend. Representing Portugal, Nuno Marques and Emanuel Couto made it a hat-trick of wins in the event, by overcoming the challenge of England’s Danny Sapsford and Chris Wilkinson, before easily dispatching Spanish brothers Emilio and Javier Sánchez 6-2, 6-1 in the final.
Football
The tennis spectacle was preceded by the European League and World Cup qualifying beach football at the same resort. In the European division, Portugal easily beat Greece and the Ukraine, before edging out Italy 3-2 in the final. England competed in the world group, but was soundly beaten by Argentina, Japan and winners Brazil. The grand final between European winners Portugal and Brazil did not live up to expectations, the hosts losing 3-1 in a below par encounter. The teams will meet again at the sport’s World Cup proper in Brazil later this year.
