Padel players from Ayrshire played their part in Scotland finishing joint second in the sixth edition of the Six Nations Padel Masters in Cologne.
The event featured some of the finest veteran players of the game from England, Scotland and Ireland, with the team including Andy Boyle, John Byrne, Alex Knight, David McCulloch, Mark Openshaw, Gavin Thomson and Stephen Alexander who are all members of the West of Scotland Padel Club based in Stevenston.
Players from Largs, West Kilbride and Irvine took part.
The results were as follows: Scotland 1-2 Switzerland, Scotland 3-0 Germany, Scotland 0-3 England, Scotland 3-0 Estonia, and Scotland 2-1 Ireland.
Scotland finished joint second with England behind a strong Swiss team who scooped top honours.
Padel is a similar game to tennis, but features toughened glass walls behind the players and an underarm serve.
Players use smaller, stubbier racquets than tennis, but the balls and the scoring system are the same.
It is fast and frenetic and proving very popular in Ayrshire.
The seniors ruling was that each pair must have a combined age of over 100, with no individual padeller permitted to be under 45.
With each country facing off against the other in a tie of three matches over the best of three sets duration. If a third set was required it was decided in a 10-point ‘champions tie-break’.
The racquet sport has been established in Ayrshire for eight years at the former ICI plant in Stevenston, with members from throughout the district.
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