Sussex diving is in crisis. The County Amateur Association had just nine competitors in its one-metre championships at the Prince Regent pool, Brighton, including only three boys.

Organisers blame the state of the Commonwealth Games and Olympic sport in the county on a lack of facilities and loss of coaches.

Sussex CASA diving secretary David Rosen said: "Certainly the sport is in crisis in Sussex. It's rather frustrating.

"After all the incentive is there because it is a Commonwealth Games and Olympic sport.

"But there are no private facilities left in the county for youngsters to practice in and the clubs, who are very supportive, are beholden to local authorities.

"A couple of boards have gone at the Prince Regent because of safety reasons and the Eastbourne club lost their board for most of the last 15 months for similar reasons.

"Only two years ago the entries for the county championships was almost three times it was this year, but many have been lost because they came from Eastbourne. With no facilities those youngsters go into other sports.

"It is difficult to encourage parents to help with administration as well as become teachers and officials as the number of divers falls.

"No facilities, no teachers, no divers. It's not looking good. And we've only got three clubs in the county with diving sections, Brighton Dolphin, Worthing and Eastbourne.

"But we've had lots of ups and downs over the years and I am trying to stay optimistic.

"Hopefully Eastbourne can build themselves back up again and the county championships will thrive once more.

"In the meantime, it is still justifiable carrying the championships on as long as the competitors come up to certain standards. We want to try and keep the sport alive and progress."

Worthing coach Hilary Wrighton, who produced Sussex girls and ladies champion Polly Simon at the Prince Regent, agrees with Rosen.

She said: "There are very few facilities. There are no highboards at all. To be able to compete at national level divers must have facilities where they can practice their dry land work, such as gyms, as well as actual diving.

"I had one boy, Samuel Milner-Smith (8), who attended a World Class Start Assessment day last month and he only got through one round because it was felt his gym work needed working on.

"Worthing will hopefully one day get a new pool with competitive boards, more water time and general facilities. Meanwhile, the sport is in decline. Any results Worthing divers get are through sheer hard work. Look at Polly. She became the first diver since myself 25 years ago to represent Division 12 at the English Schools and she was fourth."

Eastbourne were represented by one competitor, Rhys Harvey, who was third in the boys' event.

Coach Janet Jefferies said: "A couple of years ago we would have had about 15 divers in the one-metre event. Then I'd built up a decent squad who were reaching national level. But last April the board was taken away for 12 months, returned for a few weeks, and then needed more safety work. I lost almost of all of those divers."

Jefferies is determined to build-up once more, starting with the Sussex Plain Diving Championships at Worthing in November.

She said: "We've got the board back for use on Mondays. Hopefully some new divers will develop so we can have a crack at it."

Simon, 11, retained her one-metre titles from Hannah Fish (Dolphin). Worthing sisters Philippa and Megan Warrington were third and fourth in the girls' event in which Vita Dudley (Dolphin) competed as a guest. Philippa was fourth in the women's event with Anna Green (Dolphin) third.

Charles Milner-Smith completed a boys and men's double. Micky Fitzsimon (Dolphin) was second and Harvey third in the boys' event. Harvey was runner-up in the men's competition.