AN OXFORD college has said it may have to abandon plans for a women-only University Challenge team due to lack of applicants.

Wadham College put on trials for a new female-only team after St Hugh's College - founded as a women's college but now co-educational - put forward an all-male team this year.

However Wadham has now said too few women entered the trials and said it will have to open entries up to men.

The college said it would not be fair to the wider women's equality movement if 'a woman who isn't in the top four' in terms of quiz ability made it onto the team.

College social secretaries Vita Bax and Greg Ritchie have reportedly defended the decision by saying 'quizzing, like darts and snooker, tends to attract more men than women'.

Jeremy Paxman, who has hosted the show since 1994, raised the issue of gender imbalance himself two years ago, asking in a semi-final: "Why on earth are there no women left in this stage of the competition?"

Teams are put together by students, not universities or colleges.