The Greek team of Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vassiliki Karadassiou beat Finnish twins Erika and Emilia Nystrom in the event held at St Chad's Head.

 

Then the Dutch pair of Reinder Aart Nummerdor and Richard Schuil won a thrilling men’s final.

 

They took gold by beating Switzerland’s Patrick Heuscher and Sascha Heyer. 

 

Earlier, the Greeks had needed three sets to beat the Finns, but eventually ran out 21-13, 18-21, 15-11 winners in a thrilling climax to the women’s competition at the first English Masters.
 
Karadassiou said she was particularly pleased to win the title after struggling with a cold that she arrived in Blackpool with.
 
She said: “We arrived not knowing if we were going to play or quit, we took it game by game.

 

“I’m so happy now.

 

"We haven’t played good games in the last month, including at the Olympics, so we wanted to do well here.
 
“We shouldn’t have let it to go the third set after such a great performance in the first.

 

"We concentrated our minds in the middle of the third set to get the win.”
 
The victory for the Dtuch rounded off a terrific men’s tournament that culminated with four teams that competed at last month's Olympic Games in action in the final and bronze medal match.
 
The Dutch team have already had an outstanding year, winning the European Championships and reaching the quarter-finals in Beijing.
 
They started strongly against the Swiss this afternoon, powering their way to a 21-15 victory in the first set. 

 

The second set was closer, but the Dutch were always in the driving seat and Nummerdor produced a powerful smash to secure gold as they took the set 21-18.
 
Nummerdor said: “Winning is always a good feeling – it’s the best feeling there is.

 

"We worked hard to win today.

 

"It’s always tough against them, but Richard served really well today, which made things easier for us.”
 
It was the first time the Nestea European Tour has held a round in this country and the competition was hosted by VisitBlackpool and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).

 

It is part of the £3.5 million NWDA is investing to support a programme of leading events in Blackpool as part of its commitment to the resort’s ongoing regeneration.

 

Picture: www.johncassidyphoto.co.uk