GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25935, 15 October 1949, Page 4

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

(By "MILES”) A Poor House Jimmy Carter, an American negro, who is ranked tenth among the challengers for the world’s light-weight title, knocked out Charlie Ashenden at Sydney Stadium on October 6 before a crowd of 3000, probably the smallest ever to see the first fight in Sydney of a highly-rated imported boxer. Carter was to have fought Jack Hassen, who fractured his lefthand. Carter said he was prepared to wait until after Christmas to give Hassen a chance, but the poor gate returns in his first fight and the effects of devaluation may cause him to change his mind. Because of devaluation it is thought Australian fight promoters will now’ have to look to England, and not to America, for their overseas talent.

Beating the Gun. False starts are a bugbear at many athletic meetings, and nowhere more so than in the United States, where races of 45 yards and 60 yards ai;e featured during the indoor track season. In these events beating the gun by the smallest fraction of a second can make all the difference between winning and losing. What is claimed to be a practicable device to obviate false starts is a recent invention, the Ogden starting gate, the idea of Ben Ogden, coach at Temple University. The runners are controlled by restraining arms which are released simultaneously by the starter’s lever. This apparatus has been tried extensively in recent months, and track officials are enthusiastic, although some sprinters complain that they find it irksome and disconcerting.

Queen of the Track “Mrs Fanny Blankers-Koen is not to retire from athletics at the end of this season,” writes Jack Crump in “World Sports.” She hopes to compete in the European championships in Brussels in August next year. Whether she continues in 1951 depends on how she retains her form. Jack Crump failed to see any signs of deterioration in her style or speed during her recent tour of Eire, when she won every race she started in with ease. The Queen of the Track is described as a delightful personality. Her willingness to compete in two or th.ree races at a meeting or, by way of contrast to present the prizes at a local dance—and to do it all with charm and innate modesty—has endeared her to everyone who has met her. Softball

The Miramar women’s softball team will play a Canterbury team at Christchurch to-day. Miramar, which is one of the leading teams in the Wellington association’s competition, includes two girls who represented New Zealand in the Australian tour last season. Miss J. Fitzgerald, the pitcher, amazed the, sporting writers of the Australian papers with her speed and control, one writer calling her the Lindwall of softball. Miss E. Knight played shortstop, and her sure handling and dynamic fielding also created a great impression. Followers of softball will watch this game with interest, because of the possibility of an American touring team’s visit to Canterbury for the Centennial Games. Tennis Professionals •

Dinny Pails, the visiting Australian professional, who has given much valuable coaching to young players in New Zealand in the last few weeks, will be given a chance to demonstrate his ideas when he meets the Canterbury professional, A. D. Brown, at Wilding Park to-day. Pails is a master in his sport, and young players who have received tuition from him will find much to learn and still more to interest them in to-day’s exhibition. A full programme of matches between leading players should make up an afternoon of first-class sport. The Reason

“Lawn tennis, like democracy, is not played the same way in any two countries. Show me a first-class lawn tennis player I have never seen before, let me watch him serve, smash, volley, and drive, and I will tell you in what country he learnt to play the game,” writes John Olliff in the London “Daily Telegraph.” “Once again the superiority of the American pattern is revealed. Now what is this difference in national temperament which stops the English players from doing the same thing? They say they are afraid of getting stale—they must be playing games and matches instead of working at the comparatively dull basic essentials. Is it lack of patience, or laziness, or lack of ambition, or pride, or what? The Americans, on their part, are extremists as well as specialists. They have sharpened world competition to a point where no one who will not sacrifice all other interests to the one in hand stands a chance of success. That, I believe, is the main reason why they leave us standing to-day.” Table Tennis Ranking

R. Bergmann, world’s table tennis champion, who recently left New Zealand after playing a series of matches with V. Barna, considered that the Dominion had some very promising young players, and when asked for his opinion on a possible ranking list of Dominion players suggested the following:—R. A. Algie (Auckland) 1, W. J. Fogarty (Otago) 2, R. V. Jakson (Auckland) 3, V. N. Brightwell (Otago) 4, K. F. Dwyer (Auckland) 5, C. Borough (Canterbury) 6. J. Crossley (Wellington) 7. Bergmann was particularly impressed with the form of K. Cullen (South Canterbury), who is only 15 years old. With hard competitive play and more experience, Bergmann considered Cullen to have outstanding possibilities The Empire Games

In arranging its dates for the, Empire Games at Auckland in February, New Zealand has closely followed the procedure adopted for the 1938 Games in Sydney. The Games will be officially opened with the atheltic events at Eden Park on the atefrnoon of February 4, and will be closed on the following Saturday. Days on which the events will be staged are:—athletics, February 4,7, 9, 11; swimming, February 4,6, 8, 10; boxing, February 8,9, 10; wrestling, February 4, 6,7; weight-lifting, February 6,7; fencing, February 6 to 10. It is estimated that at least £15,000 will be required 1o send a team of 147 Australian athletes and officails to Auckland.

It is expected that the Federal Cabinet will make a grant of £3OOO, the same as that given for the Olympic Games team in 1948. New Zealand has given £2136. Mile in 4min B.6sec

Irish athletic followers are as puzzled as everyone else by the extraordinary progress made by J. J. Barry since last season. Certainly the “Ballincurry Hare" made the 1948 Eire Olympic team, but there is no comparison between his performances of 1948 and 1949. Already this season he has set up an unofficial world's record of 6min 33sec over one and a half miles, a new Irish record of Bmin 59sec for two miles (a time which is better than the existing British record), a new Irish three mile record of 13min 56.25ec, and improved his own mile native record to 4min B.6sec. That is quite an imposing record, but the Irish are hoping it is only a beginning. His name is now being linked with those of Zatopek, Reiff, and Slijkhuis as the world’s best middle distance runners, and the promoter who could arrange a race between these four would be automatically assured of the world’s interest. The Faster Game

In English League cricket the pace Is so hot that not half the England test team would get a paid place in a club side. This is the opinion of Ralph Hadley, an English writer who has been watching cricket in the professional Yorkshire and Lancashire leagues. Says Hadley: "If you think the sort of batting that Hutton. has been showing us in test matches this season is cricket, you're being fooled. . . . My advice to you is go north, young man. Go north to Lancashire or Yorkshire and see some real cricket—not to Old Trafford or Heading - ley, but to Rishton, or Bacup, or the Alexandra Meadows, Blackburn, where you can see 400 runs scored in four and three-quarter hours’ batting.” Supremacy in Tennis

“At the moment the supremacy of America over Britain in both men’s and

women's tennis is very considerable, and I can see no prospect of any improvement over the next few years,” writes Brigadier J. G. Smyth, V.C., in the “Sunday Times," London. “It is true that Ted Schroeder, Billy Talbert, and Gardner Mulloy are past their best, and that Gonzales and Parker have joined the professional ranks. In women's tennis Mrs du Pont is retiring from singles and Miss Brough is not quite the power she was. But behind this array of great champions is not only a second, line capable of beating the best we have in Britain today, but—an even bigger headache—a number of youngsters of a vintage much superior to anything we have in view.”

The Popular Sports More spectators attended basketball games than any other sport in the United States last year. Figures published by the magazine “This Week" show that of a total 318.750,000 paid admissions to the 1948 contests of 10 popular sports in the United States, 33 per cent., or 105,000,000, were for baskeball contests. Baseball games attracted the next largest number of spectators, with 70.000,000 paid admissions. Football tickets sold totalled 57,000,000; horse racing, 40,000,000; boxing, 30,000,000; ice hockey, 8,000,000; auto racing, 4,000,000; track and field meetings. 3,000,000; golf, 900,000, and tennis, 850,000.