THE exciting Netball Superleague finale that marked the eagerly-anticipated opening of the Worcester Arena has been heralded a resounding success.

With the match being featured on Sky Sports, the showpiece event of the English season, which saw Team Bath edge past Celtic Dragons 62-56, attracted a bumper crowd of 1,509.

The £15million pound facility, which is the centrepiece of the University of Worcester’s Riverside Campus and will become a national centre for disability sport, will now host a Great Britain wheelchair basketball tournament next month.

April White, the Worcester Arena project co-ordinator, said: “The event went really well and there was a great crowd. The netball itself was brilliant and it looked great inside the arena.

“It was a big learning curve and there are a few things we can change, but on the whole, it was really good and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

“We got excellent feedback from the spectators, from England Netball and from the television crew and cameramen. I watched the game back on Sky Sports afterwards and it looked great on TV. The TV company were impressed with the venue, it was fantastic.

“The capacity is 2,000, but we restricted ticket sales to 1,509, so there were probably around 1,600 people in there with staff, officials and TV crew.

“We now have a Great Britain wheelchair basketball tournament coming up in June, as well as plenty of other smaller events.”