Pool wizard Tony Kay has been honoured with a prestigious award after winning a fiercely competitive championship for the third time - making him only the second person to achieve the feat.

The Darlington cue king chalked up wins in the Durham County CIU Individual Trophy in 1997, 2000 and he completed the hat-trick last year.

Officials believed his Kay's feat was worthy of recognition and earlier this month a ceremony was held at the ASE Club, North Road, where Durham CIU officials presented Kay with a commemorative trophy, a replica of the silverware he has lifted on three previous occasions.

The competition has been running for over 25 years and attracts some of the region best eight-ball players.

Kay: "It's definitely a big honour, something I'm proud of.

"It's nice to be recognised in this way, especially as I'm only the second person to win it three times."

He thanked ASE Club secretary, Ned Sheridan, who finances Kay's trips to away fixtures, and steward, Mark Kirby, who also lends support.

Kay's defence of his third CIU win is already underway and Monday sees him up against Adrian Daniel, regarded as one of Sunderland's best players.

Being honoured for achieving a Durham CIU hat-trick has topped a succesful period for Kay as he recently won the Cleveland Tables Singles League.

The League is dominated by the best of Teesside's pool players but despite being the underdog havign reached the semi-final stage, Darlington-based Kay lifted the crown for the first time after four previous failed attempts.