Ritchie Venner, the Sussex champion, was knocked out of the Sussex Open by the eventual winner at Hastings.

The sixth seed, from Crawley, produced fluent and powerful table tennis to reach the quarter-finals.

After a fierce battle he lost to the top seed Ryan Jenkins, the Welsh champion, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7.

Venner also made the quarter-finals of the men's doubles, playing with Surrey ace Selwyn Campbell.

But they suffered a shock defeat against Welsh coach Steve Hall and Neil Wright, from Hertfordshire.

Hall used a bat with no sponge on one side.

Two Sussex girls reached the finals of banded events. Former Sussex open champion Rose Renton won silver by reaching the final of the band one, where she lost to Lincolnshire star junior Lauren Spink.

Sara Coggon (Hastings) lost in the final of the band two event to Welsh squad junior Laura Hall.

England No.2 Nigel Eckersley (Uckfield) was the top seed, but was knocked out of the veterans' singles by his bogey player Ian Girdler, of Surrey.

A hot, humid weekend and 14 tables in the hall left little space for spectators and players found it difficult to relax between games.

Eckersley said: "The humidity was so high I could not get any spin on the ball. That left me vulnerable to flat hitters like Girdler."

Mike Watts, 64, who at one time played for Sussex as a veteran and lived in Hailsham, has died of cancer aged 64.

He master-minded two events in Manchester, the 1977 World Championships and the 1978 World Veterans' Championships.