GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27191, 7 November 1953, Page 9

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

[By MILES)

New Road Race for Christchurch The Pioneer Motor Club will.hold a series of short road races on a new circuit of 2J miles at Bromley on the Satuday before Christmas. It Will be the club’s first venture of this sort, and it will introduce a new type of event to New Zealand—handicap races for proper racing machines (until now handicap races have been confined to standard, or nearly standard, machines). The club has allotted £245 for prize money (£35 for first prize for the longest race, of 45 miles), but this amount will be increased if the entry is a big one. Most of the circuit is tar-sealed, round a block of farm land enclosed by Bromley, Dyer’s, Ruru and Mace’s roads. The race orgainser (Mr F. B. Spensley) had planned the race on a bigger circuit, taking in a short stretch of Linwood avenue, But the City Council’s traffic department would not allow this road to be closed, even for half an hour at a time as was intended. Woman’s Long Record

Mrs Thomas Graf, of the Melbourne suburb of Preston, has just started her twenty-sixth season as a cricket player. She plays with the Preston women’s team in the pennant competition. For more than 25 years Mrs Graf was captain and opening bat for the Preston team. She resigned from the captaincy four years ago “to make room for younger players.” Each year she talks of retiring, but when the season comes round she finds herself persuaded to carry on. She is now secretary of her club. Mrs Graf bats right-handed but bowls left-handed. She began playing cricket as a child with her brothers, and soon learned to bowl overarm, not “underarm like a sissy!” Jottings

Australia’s fast bowler, Ray Lindwall, may live in Brisbane in future. A Brisbane sporting firm is keen to employ Lindwall, and there are reports of other Brisbane firms who are interested.

• Des White, New Zealand Rugby League full-back, who plays for Ponsonby club in Auckland, kicked 120 goals last season. His points aggro? gate 261. Previous records are Warwick Clarke’s 111 goals in 1946, and Brian Nordgten’s 1945 aggregate of 258. Travelling Boxing Outfit

With the object of boosting boxing in Australia, New South Wales sportsmen have put £20,000 into a syndicate which will stage contests in different parts of the state. The syndicate haS purchased a £4OO tubular steel ring and 5000 collapsible seats worth £B5OO. This equipment with a portable generator and lighting system will 15e carried on two diesel trailers from town. to town. The first fight under the new control was between Don Johnson and Alfie Sands at Newcastle. Already negotiations have commenced for the importation of several American fighters and a training camp with' sleeping quarters a portable ring and sweat boxes has been established. Swimming for Cripples

Great work is being done in the classes held for crippled children at the Invercargill baths says the “Southland Times.” About 30 of these children, many of whom cannot walk, are guided in the water by members of thd Girls High School under the control of Miss B. Ball, a former Southland representative and a notable lifesaving instructor. Besides these children, a number of poliomyelitis cases from Winton and Wyndham attend the baths. One farmer from Centre Bush had to be carried into the baths at first, but after a few months is now able to walk again. The curative powers of the water succeed where massage fails. .

Not-a Rugby Fan A schooboy—one ’assumes he is such from his address, School House, Kingswood, Bath writes to “World Sports” saying that “not all public schoolboys revere rugger,” and goes on thus: I tackle none, for none is worth my life; Scrums I abhor, and always stand apart; I eat my caramels throughout the strife And I am ever ready to depart. High Standard Set The standard of performances set for* inclusion in the Australian team for the Empire games is more difficult than in 1950 and comes closer to world standards of 1952. The 1 standards are:— 100 yards, 9.65; 220 yards, 21.35; 440 yards, 48s; 880 yards, Im 52.85; mile, 4m 10s; 3 miles, 13m 58s; 6 miles, 29m 40s; marathon, 2hr 30m; 120 yards hurdles, 14.45; 440 yards hurdles. 52.95; high jump, 6ft 4in; pole vault, 13ft 3in; broad jump, 24ft 3in; hop. step, and jump, 49ft 6in; shot put, 49ft 6in; discus, 155 ft; javelin, 210 ft; hammer throw, 170 ft. Basketball on Horseback According to “World Sports” a government decree signed by General Peron has nominated pato as Argentina’s national sport. Pato is basketball or. horseback; the ball, made of white leather, has six leather handles with which to scoop it off the ground at full gallop. Pato’s centuries-old history has been turbulent. It has not always had official sanction, and in 1822 was banned as a dangerous sport, casualties among riders being common.' Ten years ago Don Alberto del Castillo Posse, an Argentina sportsman, set about reviving the game. Earlier free-for-all rules were .modified, 4out even npw it is a sport only for good horsemen who can take a fall. Stretchermen are kept busy. The name “pato” is Spanish for duck—the- game was originally played with a live duck in a small bag. The field is about 240 x 98 yards. Four men on each side play six seven-minute periods with five minutes’ rest between each one. Scoripg is done by ( dr oping the pato through a hoop into a net bag. The pato must be picked up .or thrown with the right hand only. Fixtures New Zealand Cricket team:—November 7-9-10 v. Eastern Province (Port Elizabeth); Nov. 13-14-16 v. Orange Free State (Bloemfontein).-

All Blacks:—Nov. 7 London Counties (Twickenham); Nov. 11 Oxford University (Oxford); Nov. 14 Wes Tern Counties (Bristol). • Kid Dynamite Wins- • The South African, Kid Dynamite, beat Kevin James in the fifth round of a scheduled 12-round bout at Sydney Stadium last Monday after James was forced to retire with a cut on the forehead. Bill Henneberry, writing in the “Sydney Morning Herald,” has the following: ‘“Kid Dynamite has a dangerousehabit of rolling his head when fighting in close. This habit accidentally caused a two-inch cut on Kevin James’s forehead. Up to this point I had James clearly -in front, and I think he might have gone on to a good points win. James is a smart little boxer who should do well in the bantamweight division, but his style lacks colour and he is never likely to be a big drawcard. Dynamite handled the southpaw surprisingly well. He-often beat James to the lead, and on other occasions boxed him in close by slipping inside the southpaw’s straight right.” Olympic Hope

A 17-year-old pupil of St. Patrick’s Christian Brothers’ College, Strathfield, has been acclaimed as a prospective

representative for Australia at the Olympic Games by the former Australian sprint champion, John Treloar. He is Peter Mclnnes, who recently clocked amazing times in the finals of the All Schools’ Championships at Sydney Cricket Ground. He ran the 100 yards in 9.6 sec, and the 220 yards in 22sec. In the 100 yards race he outshone the deeds of Olympians John Treloar and the late Jimmy Carlton, British Empire Games sprinter David Johnson, and others, when he lowered the previous record set by Johnson by another one-tenth of a second. He won the 220 yards from Graham McGregor (State junior champion) and J. Deppe, even though he drew the outside lane. Last February Mclnnes won the senior 100 yardfe championship of Victoria while still a sub-junior sprinter—an unheard of performance. Praising Peter’s performance, Treloar said Mclnnes had speed out of the blocks he himself had never achieved. Mclnnes could be a threat to the world in 1956.