JOHN SOWDEN is the new British skittles champion.

Representing Matchplay Porkies, Sowden,36, beat a field of 150 to become the best skittles player in the country. Ice-cool Sowden held his nerve to beat John Thompson in the final on the English Riviera.

A former Lance Bombardier in the British army, Sowden has played skittles since a teenager and became the youngest ever Stroud singles champion in 1998 at the age of seventeen.

Meanwhile, Denise Girdwood came a creditable third in the ladies event.