Sportsman’s Notebook SUMMER TABLE TENNIS TO BEGIN NEXT MONTH

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28399, 4 October 1957, Page 6

Sportsman’s Notebook SUMMER TABLE TENNIS TO BEGIN NEXT MONTH

The Canterbury Table Tennis Association’s summer competition, which will begin in the first week in November, should be an interesting one, especially in the first grade. The Canterbury men's team which was so convincingly beaten in the semi-final of the inter-association competition by Wellington last month, has recognised the merits of the sponge bat. In this semi-final match the four Wellington players, M. L. Dunn, J. S. Crossley, E. J. Sigley and C. P. Shewan, aU used sponge-rubber bats, and their variations of spin and pace unsettled the Canterbury players. Earlier in the season, Canter-

bury had beaten Wellington, but the score of 10 matches to 2 in this semi-final proved that practice with and against the sponge bats is essential. Several leading Canterbury players intend to use the sponge bats next season, and are regarding the forthcoming summer competition as a valuable chance to practice the new style. The possibility of entries of teams of good players from the United States Antarctic expedition stationed in Christchurch will add further interest to the competition. » * » Wrestlers’ Tour A northern report says that four overseas wrestlers will visit New Zealand this month for a Dominion-wide tour. These will be Ski Hi Lee. Ricky Waldo, Jesse James and Baron von Heczey. The Canterbury Wrestling Association, wary of overseas wrestlers since the last-minute cancellation of the visit of the world champion, Lou Thesz, has no knowledge of any arrangements for this latest tour. However, the Dominion Wrestling Union conference has just ended and more news of the proposed tour may be available in a few days.

Treatment For Courts

Central Park, the venue of this season's national tennis championships in Wellington, will be very carefully treated between now and the dates of the matches. The courts have been topdressed recently and the Wellington Lawn Tennis Association is making every endeavour to see that they are not damaged by being used too soon. It has been agreed that inter-club play should begin on November 2, at Central Park if possible, but that the Labour week-end tournament should be played elsewhere. # « * Run To Auckland Members of the Lyndale Harrier Club will attempt to make the first harrier run from Wellington to Auckland at Labour week-end. The 416 miles will be covered by a team of 18 runners, each of whom will make three runs. The team hopes to do the run in about 56 hours, beginning from the Wellington Post Office just before noon on Saturday, and finishing at the Domain in Auckland about 3 pan. on the Monday. * * * . Boxers In League The Sydney Watersiders’ Rugby League team, which will play several games in New Zealand this month, includes two wellknown boxers. These are the heavy-weight, Bruce Farthing, who has fought in New Zealand several times, and the Queensland middle-weight champion. Limpy Walker. Both are anxious to be matched with New Zealand boxers during their stay. * * * Table Tennis Wins The three New Zealand table tennis players at present in Australia, Margaret Hoar, Barbara Packwood and June Magorian, all achieved distinction in the Australian championships. Miss Hoar won the singles and with Miss Packwood, also won the doubles. Miss Packwood reached the semifinals of the singles, as did Mrs Magorian, who eliminated the topseeded Australian player in the second round. * * * Fencing History Fencing history was made in the Auckland provincial championships recently when four barrages were required to decide the winner in the sabre event The final three fencers were B. Pickworth, M. J. Tait and A Vivian. In each of the first three barrages, Tait had beaten Pickworth, Pickworth had beaten Vivian and Vivian had beaten Tait. This gave the fencers a win' and a loss each in each barrage. In the fourth, the one-armed Pickworth was down 2-4 against Tait, but he recovered to win the title. The Empire Games representative, A J. Gittos, said that the only other known time four barrages had been needed was in the 1956 Olympic epee contest

Cricket Rule Returned

A move to have the residential qualification lifted from the Auckland district cricket scheme was heavily defeated at the annual meeting of the Auckland Cricket Association recently. The Grafton club, which moved the motion, emphasised difficulties of travel and team members in the district and described the motion as “an attempt to keep ourselves alive.” The motion was debated for an hour and a half and was lost by 57 votes to 12.