BEACH Volleyball smashes back on to Weymouth Beach this weekend for the 40th year with the Weymouth Beach Classic.

The event, organised by Weymouth Volleyball Club with the support of UK Beach Tour, is just one of two Grand Slam events to be held in Great Britain this year and attracts nearly all the top players across the country to the town.

In all, the UK Beach Tour co-ordinates over 200 events during the summer, of which Weymouth is the pinnacle.

The event, held at the Pavilion end of the beach, will include a centre court which provides free seating for 200, a bar, commentary and music to entertain the crowd.

READ MORE: Weymouth Beach Volleyball Classic 2022 - report

The Classic kicks off on Thursday evening with the traditional Nantes Charity Event where 32 local businesses battle it out for the title.

This is followed on Friday afternoon with the qualifying event. Twelve teams will compete in the men’s and women’s competitions with the final two sides going into Saturday’s main draw.

Play starts 9am on Saturday morning with matches in the men’s and women’s early rounds of the competition. Play will finish with the final group matches at about 7pm on Saturday evening.

Sunday opens with the quarter-finals in both the men’s and women’s event and then the day will build to a climax with the women’s final at 3pm followed by the men’s.

This year there are a number of well-known British players to look out for.

In the men’s competition the winners are likely to come from Harry Jones and Nick Gleed, Scottish internationals Callum Stewart and Ross McElvie, or last year’s winners Pierre Tang-Taye and Andrea Maggio.

An outside possibility could be Enrico Bello, playing with his partner Josue Seekings.

After Weymouth, Bello will fly out to Romania to represent England in the European Under-22 competition.

In the women’s draw, last year’s winners, and Scotland’s representatives in last year’s Commonwealth Games, Mel Coutts and Lynne Beattie are back but will be playing with different partners.

Beattie partners a young up and coming Scottish player Mhairi Agnew while Coutts teams up with ten-time Weymouth Classic winner Denise Austin who has announced this event to be her swansong.

As well as this, Jess Grimson England’s representative at the Commonwealth Games and 2021 Weymouth winner teams up with newcomer Alyssa Ballenger.

The England’s women’s team in the Under-22 European event, Katie Keefe and Isabelle Tucker, will also be keen to take the women’s title.

Find more details on the event, sponsored by We Are Weymouth and Weymouth Town Council, via www.weymouthbeachvolleyball.co.uk