The World Conker Championships has been hit by a cheating row after the men’s winner was later found with a steel dummy in his pocket.
David Jakins, 82, cinched the title at his 46th attempt in Southwick, Northamptonshire, on Sunday.
But when the retired engineer was searched afterwards, he was found to have a steel conker, shaped and painted to look real, threaded on an identical lace in one of his pockets.
Mr Jakins, who also served as the tournament’s top judge – or King Conker – responsible for drilling and threading other competitor’s chestnuts, denied using the dummy during the competition and insisted he only carries it ‘for humour value’.
He won the Men’s Open World Championship but was denied the overall winner’s trophy after being beaten by American women’s champ Kelci Banschbach.
The 34-year-old, from Indiana, is the competition’s first US winner.
Mr Jakins’s vanquished foe in the men’s final, Alistair Johnson-Ferguson, 23, from Canary Wharf, said: ‘My conker disintegrated in one hit, and that just doesn’t happen.
‘Now it turns out King Conker had a dummy steel conker, so he could have swapped his real conker for that one. Or he could have marked the conker strings to pick out a harder nut.
‘I’m suspicious of foul play and have expressed my surprise to organisers.’
The World Conker Championships drew in 2,000 fans to the Shuckburgh Arms in Southwick to watch the 256 competitors.
The event sees participants go head-to-head using conkers threaded onto a string to try and smash their opponent’s nut. Each player takes three alternate strikes at the opponent’s chestnut.
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Conkers fan David Glew, 78, from Lincoln, said: ‘As if it’s not suspicious enough for the event’s top judge to take part in his own tournament and win, he has also obliterated opponents’ nuts in one hit and then been found with a metal conker.
‘The question that has to be asked is – how has he won now, after never winning previously?
‘The whole thing is nuts. It stinks and needs to be properly investigated to save our game from scandal.’
Mr Jakins, from Warmington, Northamptonshire, is the tournament’s oldest ever winner, in what is expected to be his final year competing.
He said: ‘I was found with the steel conker in my pocket, but I only carry around with me for humour value and I did not use it during the event.
‘Yes, I did help prepare the conkers before the tournament. But this isn’t cheating or a fix, and I didn’t mark the strings. I just tried to hit hard, and somehow, I finally won.’
St John Burkett, spokesperson for the Conker World Championships, confirmed the allegations of cheating are being investigated.
He said: ‘Allegations of foul play have been received that somehow King Conker swapped his real conker for the metal one later found in his pocket.
‘Players select conkers from a sack before each round. There are also suggestions that King Conker had marked the strings of harder nuts. We can confirm he was involved in drilling and lacing the nuts before the event.
‘We are investigating.’
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