Table Tennis SOUTH ISLAND TITLES

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28606, 7 June 1958, Page 15

Table Tennis SOUTH ISLAND TITLES

' Play On Two Days The South Island table tennis championships will be played in Christchurch on Friday and Saturday, August 8 and 9. This was decided by a meeting of the executive of the Canterbury Table Tennis Association. The meeting decided that play would be on Friday evening and ail day on Saturday. The finals will be pia>ed on Saturday afternoon. All matches will take place in the Crichton Cobbers' Hall. The secielaiy (Mr E. D. Kwok) < said that it had originally been intended to play- the finals on the , Sunday evening. However, tne ■ executive of the New Zealand Table • Tennis Association had refused to j sanction the playing of this tourna- < ment on a Sunday, in accordance j with its previously-expressed policy, , This had placed the Canterbury As- < sociation in a difficult position, said 1 Mr Kwok, and meant that matches would have to be played on Satur- . day afternoon. It had been hoped , that this could be avoided. Mr A. B. . McCallum was appointed to manage ' the tournament, with Mr C. A. , Clarke as assistant manager. The chairman (Mr F. H. G. Johnstone) was appointed referee. Under-16 boys', girls', and mixed doubles will be played, in addition to the normal events. Canterbury Titles An under-16 mixed doubles event will also be added to the programme for the Canterbury championships, which will be played on Friday. Saturday, and Sunday, August 22, 23, and 24. The junior events will be played bn the preceding Friday. August 15, and the finals of all senior and junior events will be played on the evening of Sunday, August 24. Mr McCallum was appointed tournament manager, assisted by Mr R. T. Oakley. Mr Kwok will be the referee. The association’s annual handicap and grade tournaments will also be played on Sunday evenings. It was decided that the handicap tournaments should be conducted first, over four Sundays. June 22 and 29 and July 6 and 13. The grade championships will be played on July 20 and 27 and August 3. Tour Cancelled Mr Kwok reported that the proposed tour of New Zealand by two United States players had been cancelled. The players were to have been Van de Walle, ranked fourth in his country, and Schikk, ranked ninth. Canterbury had been offered a match against the tourists on July 14, but had to decline as no suitable hall was available. The Otago and Wellington associations had also been unable to accept their suggested dates, so the New Zealand association has informed-Australia that it cannot take the tour. The players will be touring Australia at this time. Mr Kwok reported that invitations had been received from the Malvern, Mid-Canterbury, and Ellesmere subassociations to hold the first Town v. Country match. It was decided that this should be held at Darficld on June 21. The teams will be of eight men and eight women, and a total of 48 matches will be played.