Ritchie Venner has lifted the men's doubles crown for the second time at the 65th Sussex Open Grand Prix in Hastings.

Venner was partnered by 20-year-old London-based student Marco Essomba.

Essomba completed the hat-trick by winning the men's singles title and the under-21 singles event.

Essomba, came to England three years ago from the Camaroon where he was in their national junior squad.

Squad A few months ago he was training full time with the England squad at Nottingham.

Now he is back in London on a full time computer course at Middlesex University and playing only two evenings a week at the London Progress club, Horsham's main rivals in the British League premier division championship race.

After losing to Essomba in the men's singles quarter- finals, Venner said: "I was playing well but Marco's accuracy and power were almost beyond belief."

On reaching the final Essomba took 45 minutes to overcome the fierce back spin of top seed, Derbyshire coach Alan Cooke but the young player overcame experience to win 11-5, 7-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-7.

Sussex champion Rose Rainton, (Bexhill), who won the Open title in 1998, again reached the women's singles final but lost to the Hungarian player Barbara Kiss, who is also based in London and studying at Middlesex University. Rose, after creating some havoc among the young players, was confidently beaten 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 by Kiss in the final.

Sheila King (Hastings) did not reach her best form, losing to Judy Morley (Gloucester) in the veteran women's event. King was the second seed.