DARREN Cox jetted off to sunny Spain earlier this week for the gala final of the £21,000 Embassy Challenge, the world's premier pairs angling competition.

The product manager from Ettington will be competing for the £6,000 first prize alongside his partner Klaus Fix from Nuneaton.

Forty pairs of qualifiers will be in action in the Tarragona region of the Costa Daureda in north east Spain on Thursday and Friday, May 22 and 23.

A remarkable total of 4,000 anglers entered the qualifying rounds with Cox and Fix victorious at Woodlands View Fishery in Droitwich.

Cox is one of the UK's most talented fishermen and came second in the Embassy eight years ago.

The Stratford angler competes for Garbolino MAP Starlets and he enjoyed a memorable 2002.

He was called up to the Drennan Team England squad for the Six Nations Championship, while also winning the £25,000 first prize in the Skolmasters and capturing the Kamasan British Open title.

"2002 will always go down as a special year for me and I would love to add the Embassy title to my list of achievements," Cox admitted.

"It would be fantastic if Klaus and I could go all the way this time but, win or lose, I know we are going to gave a great time."

Married with a young daughter, Cox will join the Spanish party of competitors, past winners, officials and angling press on an exclusively chartered Embassy Eagle - a Boeing 737-200 - at Stansted on May 19 for the first leg of his Spanish adventure.

The first Imperial Tobacco sponsorship was the Woodbine Challenge in 1970 which means that Imperial Tobacco have been angling's biggest and best supporter and, indeed, this 34-year involvement surely makes them one of the longest-running sponsors in British sporting history.