THE first of two major international angling competitions to be staged in Weymouth this year proved to be a resounding success, according to one of the event’s key figures.

Neil Bryant, chairman of EFSA (European Federation of Sea Angling) England, said he “couldn’t have asked for better” with the way the European Boat and Line Class Championships panned out.

Winners from across the boat and line classes were officially crowned at the Riviera Hotel when the five-day angling extravaganza came to an end.

But it won’t be long before the Bowleaze Cove venue is the headquarters for another top tournament – the FIPS-M World Boat Championships start on Sunday.

Bryant, who will be involved in that too in his role of England team manager, was delighted with how the Europeans went.

“The whole thing went ext-remely well, we couldn’t have asked for better,” he said. “The water was superb and more than 9,000 fish were caught during the week.

“Everything ran smoothly and a lot of that was down to the coordination of Ray Ashby and Charlotte Selby.

“The Riviera Hotel provided excellent service throughout the week for the competitors that stayed there.”

Italy’s Anthony Giacomini took the men’s European boat title from English duo Rob Shattock and Colin Searles, who were second and third respectively.

Giacomini, alongside Mauro Salvatori, also won the open two-man team event, while Ger-many’s Katharina Schlieff defended her crown in the ladies’ championship.

England A triumphed in the international team event and there were a number of awards handed out for some of the best specimens caught throughout the competition.

Poole’s Vernon Allen landed the best bream (46cm), George Bell from Scotland snared the best plaice (53cm) and Italian Vanni Erani’s thin-lipped mullet was the most unusual fish caught.

Meanwhile, Richard Russell managed to land a 1,895g brill in Friday’s line class championships.

And, if ratified, that would be a European record for a brill caught using a 4kg Ande tournament line – there is a chance it could be a world record too.

Richard Wheeler was the winner of the men’s line championship with 110 points, England’s Ray Barron was second and Brett Wiham of South Africa was third.

Wales’ Tina Lustig was too good for the rest of the field in the women’s championship.

Wheeler also triumphed in the two-man team category alongside Simon Norman, while Barron, Bryant, Perry Dack and Marcus Wuest of Bluezone Fishing were first in the four-man team contest.