Liu Song, a Chinese player resident in Argentina, won the 67th Sussex Open Grand Prix at Christ's Hospital, Horsham.

He produced a superb display of attack and defence to beat England coach Alan Cooke in a sparkling final 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.

Sponsorship from Brighton-based company Ocean International Communications boosted the prize kitty to £3,000 and Song took the £1,000 on offer to the winner.

Three players from the front ranks of the England squad - Cooke (Derbyshire), Gareth Herbert (Berkshire) and Terry Young (Berkshire), reached the semi-finals stages.

Chinese women also dominated the women's singles event. Xu Jie, attached to the Welsh national squad, defeated top seed Zhao Shuang (Shropshire) 12-10, 11-6, 11-8 in the final.

Sussex players also tasted defeat against Chinese competitors. Sussex No.1 Ritchie Venner lost to the tenth seed Wang Ran (Wales) and Horsham's Sally Weston went out to the winner.

Nearly 400 fans watch the foreign stars, particularly former World Cup winner Andrzej Grubba. His spectacular skills were snuffed out in round three by Kou Lei (Shropshire) 11-9 in the fifth game.

Two hundred players took part and 70 entries were turned away. It was the strongest field for many years which was due to the huge prize fund.