The battles for the Seaman and Nicholls cups at the Horsham on Sunday have attracted the most powerful entries for some years.

The two prestigious events are by invitation to leading players in Sussex.

Ritchie Venner is favourite to retain the men's Seaman Cup, but there are five other players capable of upsetting him, particularly Sussex No 2 Adrian Moore and Terry Haley, who is rated No.30 on the England men's veterans list.

The Worthing pair, Peter Bartram and Andy Walker, never give up and Mayur Majithia is the Crawley champion after narrowly defeating Venner in the local final.

Playing in the Seaman Cup for the second time is the English Table Tennis official Wesley Bush-Harris, who is a Sussex county player capable of upsetting the main men The Nicholls Cup is currently held by former Sussex Open champion Rose Rainton (Bexhill) and she is the favourite to hold onto the trophy.

But on her own club tables, Sally Weston is a dangerous opponent.

The third major contender for the Nicholls Cup is Teresa Bennett (Polegate), a winner of the Sussex title four times. At the age of 30 she is still capable of winning top county tournaments.

But there are two young players improving steadily in- Sarah Stedman (Arundel) and Sara Coggon from Hastings.

The two senior cup events are preceded by two junior events run on the same lines for the top Sussex junior players.

Report by John Woodford
sports@argus-btn.co.uk