TWENTY-four-year-old Bermudian, James Stout, is best known locally as one of the finest squash players the island has ever produced.

And Stout has now just been crowned the World Rackets Champion ¿ a sport he has been playing since he was a young student attending school in England.

Rackets was first played in English Prisons during the 18th century, usually amongst gentleman who had been imprisoned as debtors. There was mention of Rackets at Fleet Prison in a poem written in 1749, and its popularity spread to other prisons and to public houses in London, and then to cities such as Bristol, Bath, Birmingham and Belfast. Charles Dickens mentions the game in Pickwick Papers, but in more recent times it has been played almost exclusively in some 36 courts in the UK and in North America. The courts are approximately one and a half times the width of, and two and a half times the length of a squash court. They are made of slate, and the game is played at a very fast pace with a white ball almost as hard as a golf ball which travels at up to 180 miles an hour.

Stout took up the sport at school, and was unbeaten as a junior since the age of 14. He gave it up for several years when he took up professional squash in Belgian, but decided to get back into the game while working as a squash, tennis and racquets professional at the New York Racquets and Tennis Club.

Challenging for the title of World Rackets Champion is peculiar to the sport because there is no annual World Championship Tournament as there is in squash, or most other sports for that matter.

There are about six major rackets championships held each year, including the British and US Championships, and in order to challenge the world champion a player has to win at least two major tournaments and then apply for permission from both the Tennis and Rackets Association (T&RA) in the UK and the North American Racquets Association (NARA) to make a challenge.

Harry Foster of England had held the World Rackets Championship since 2005, but Stout earned the right to a challenge after winning the US Open title in January this year, followed by the British Open title in February.

The two players were scheduled to play two legs (matches) ¿ one in New York followed by the second leg at the Queen's Club in England. Each leg consisted of the best of seven games using the English scoring system in which a player can only win a point on his serve. Each game goes to 15 points. The champion would be the player who won the most games in the two legs.

This was the first time in decades that two players contesting the World Championship had never previously played each other. Both had competed in the US Open in January where Foster lost in the semi-final to a player whom Stout beat in the final.

Watched by his parents, John and Karen Stout, the Bermudian got off to a brilliant start in the first leg in New York, winning it by four games to one (15-10, 15-12, 12-15, 15-9, 15-12). This meant that in order to win, Foster had to win the second leg in London by at least 4-1. In front of a packed crowd, including his parents and three brothers, Stout played at his best taking the first two games 15-11, 15-7, giving him an unassailable 6-1 overall lead ¿ and the title ¿ to become the youngest World Rackets Champion for 20 years.

When asked by the Mid-Ocean News about his victory Stout said: "I was ecstatic to win the world title. Most of the games were close, but I think my fitness made the difference and at the end it was a comfortable win. I felt pretty confident going in. I'd prepared really well for the matches and playing professional squash certainly helped my fitness."

Speaking about his plans for retaining the title Stout commented: "I'd like to continue playing in all the major tournaments and if I can continue to win them there won't be a challenge for a while. Harry Foster was undefeated for two years until he lost in the semi-final of the US Open to the guy I beat in the final. I earned the right to challenge him after winning the British Open so if I keep winning I keep the title."

Not bad for a young man born in a country that doesn't have a rackets court!