Unbeaten Nottingham Are Prince O3 Challenge Champions

In the third and final play-off tie in the Prince O3 Challenge at the luxurious Vale Hotel, Golf & Spa Resort near Cardiff, Nottingham beat Chichester 3/0 to win the inaugural national inter-club squash competition for non-county players.

Unbeaten in their two earlier clashes against Newcastle club Northumberland, and London club Connaught, Nottingham began the tie in convincing style when Karl Murray beat Chichester's Tim McIlwain 9-3, 9-3, 9-2.

Team captain Matt King clinched victory for Nottingham with a 9-3, 9-1, 9-3 win over Chichester's captain Paul Wykes.

In the final rubber between the two teams' women, Claire Briance took the opening game against Nottingham's Sarah Zipser as Chichester seemed set to cement their bid to take second place in the final placings. However, Zipser fought back to win 5-9, 9-1, 9-7, 9-0 to ensure maximum points for the East Midlands club, and third place for the Sussex team.

In a hard-fought tie between Connaught and Northumberland, wins by the London team's Will Brand and Elliott Fowell over Northumberland's Peter Carter and Freddie Bolton, respectively, left ladies Jo Ravenhall and Jackie Carter to play out the dead rubber.

But, despite suffering a minor cut above her left eye midway through the third game, Jackie Carter earned a popular 9-7, 9-5, 10-9 victory over Ravenhall to give Northumberland deserved consolation points.

With wins over both Northumberland and Chichester on Saturday, Connaught finished in second place behind Nottingham.

Equipment prizes were presented to all four teams by Welsh and British Lions rugby star Ieuan Evans, with the winning Nottingham team members each also receiving a travel voucher for £700.

"It's absolutely fantastic - it's like a dream come true to win this great tournament," said Nottingham's Matt King, who will now be able to join team-mate and girlfriend Sarah Zipser at her sister's wedding in Perth, Australia, next November.

"We had long been planning to go, but would have had to go on stand-by, and therefore probably not together. Now we can fly together - and might now even consider an upgrade to business class!"

"These sort of tournaments are usually only reserved for top professionals - so we feel very privileged to have been treated so royally here over this weekend. The whole thing has been beyond our expectations - and the prize-fund is unbelievable," added King.

Prince organiser Andy Bunting said: "This new tournament has more than achieved the objectives we set. We've put Prince's new O3 racket technology into club players' hands and have had overwhelmingly positive reaction.

"The finals weekend has been extremely successful and the Vale hotel, with its three new glass-backed courts, could not have been a better venue.

"Nottingham are worthy winners of the first O3 Challenge - and I now look forward to beginning the preparatory work for next season's event," added Bunting.

RESULTS: Prince O3 Squash Challenge, Vale Hotel, Cardiff.

National Finals play-offs:

Nottingham bt Chichester 3/0 (Karl Murray bt Tim McIlwain 9-3, 9-3, 9-2; Matt King bt Paul Wykes 9-3, 9-1, 9-3; Sarah Zipser bt Claire Briance 5-9, 9-1, 9-7, 9-0)

Connaught bt Northumberland 2/1 (Will Brand bt Peter Carter 6-9, 9-0, 9-10, 9-6, 9-3; Elliott Fowell bt Freddie Bolton 9-4, 5-9, 9-2, 9-2; Jo Ravenhall lost to Jackie Carter 7-9, 5-9, 9-10)

Final placings: 1st Nottingham (35 points); 2nd Connaught (22); 3rd Chichester (17); 4th Northumberland (8)