DRAW FOR HEATS ANNOUNCED

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28130, 20 November 1956, Page 16

DRAW FOR HEATS ANNOUNCED

Tough Opposition For Scott, Halberg EASIER TASK FOR SPRINTER -Prass Association — Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) Nev. 19. The 'tor mu] inh i n.wjjtni. >rijl ' Halberg and "N. I. Scott/nave drawn tough heats in the Qlympie 1500 metres, but the sprinter, M. L. has been more fortunate in the calibre of the opposition he will meet in his heats of the 100 and 200 metres races. Scott’s opponents include five men ranked in the top 10 of the world. Only four men from the heat will go into the final. Scott will be running against John Landy (his best time this year was 3min 58.6 sec), Dan Waem (best 1956 time 3min 49.8 sec). of Sweden. Brian Hewson, of Britain (3min 43.25ec), Siegfried Herman, of Germany (3min 42.65ec). and Gunnar Neilson, of Norway (3min 40.8 sec). These are all world-ranked men. Also in the field is speedy 800 metres runner, Audun Boysen, of Norway. Halberg’s heat includes Australia’s Jim Bailey (3min 58.6 sec). as well as the Hungarian world record-holder. Istvan Rozsavolgyi. The latter’s world beating time is 3min 40.6 sec, compared with Halberg’s best performance of 3min 46sec. Halberg also has to compete against J. Barthel, of Luxembourg, who won the 1500 metres at Helsinki in 1952. Rae is delighted at hX luck in drawing an easy heat in th'e 100 metres. His toughest opponent is expected to be Abdul Khakiq. of Pakistan, who has done 10.4 sec for the 100 metres. Rae’s best time is 9.ssec for the 100 yards—the equivalent of 10.4 sec for the 100 metres. It is expected that the Americans. Ira Murchison, Leamon King, and Bobby Morrow, will be favourites for the title. Both Murchison and King have recently unofficially broken the Olympic 100-metre record set by the great American negro runner, Jesse Owens, at Berlin in 1936. In the 200 metres, Rae and Khaliq will again oppose each other in their heat—the fifth of 12. Again Khaliq is the best-performed of the other runners. To win through to a semifinal. Rae will have to be either first or second, as in the 100 metres, only the first two runners qualify for a semi-final.

Opposition for N.Z. Hurdler Miss Margaret Stewart, of Hastings, will have the toughest time of all the New Zealanders to win through to the finals. In her heat of the 80 metres hurdles is Shirley Strickland-Dela-hunty, of Australia, the world and Olympic record holder. The Australian runner has been approaching her best times recently and is once again favoured to take the title. M. Golubnichaia, of Russia, has also returned near-record times. The first three in each heat qualify for the semi-final and the first three in each semi-final go on to contest the title. In her second-string event, the 100 metres. Miss Stewart will run against the famous German, Mrs Christa StubHick. whose time of 11.6 sec puts her among the world s top sprinters. Britain s Mrs June Paul is also probablv Sood enough to qualify. Only two qualifiers go on from each heat. The main object of Miss Stewart’s m 3 hls e y ent ’ s to condition her w the atmosphere of the stadium.