Steel chestnut plunges World Conker Championships into controversy – UPI.com

Oct. 15 (UPI) — The unusual British sport of conkers has erupted into controversy after the winner of the men’s title at this year’s world championships was accused of cheating with a steel chestnut.

The World Conker Championships featured more than 200 participants, with two competitors in each round using a chestnut on a leather string to try to break their opponents chestnut.

David Jakins, 82, a long-time competitor known as King Conker, won his first men’s title at Sunday’s event in Southwick, Northamptonshire.

Jakins lost the overall contest to women’s title winner Kelci Banschbach, 34, an Indianapolis native who became the first American to win the competition.

The results were called into question after Jakins was accused of cheating in the men’s event and officials found a steel chestnut in his pocket.

“Allegations of foul play have been received that somehow King Conker swapped his real conker for the metal one later found in his pocket,” World Conker Championships spokesman St. John Burkett told The Guardian.

“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.”

Jakins denied marking the leather strings to give himself an advantage. He also denied using the steel chestnut in the competition, explaining it was a novelty item for amusing children.

“You get them to hit it with their conker and then their conker breaks and they can’t believe it,” he told the BBC. “It’s impossible to cheat at conkers — it’s a load of nonsense.”

Event chairman Jim Packer said he believes Jakins, saying he examined the steel chestnut and “it’s very obvious it’s not a real one.”

The investigation is ongoing.

The World Conker Championships is no stranger to controversy — officials came under fire in 2023 when a soggy chestnut harvest led to the conkers used in the competition being baked for the first time in the event’s history.