PEOPLE IN THE PLAY

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 5

PEOPLE IN THE PLAY

The present holder of the New Zealand professional light-heavyweight boxing title, Charlie Beaton, has announced his retirement from the sport An Australian, Beaton had won 13 and lost six of his 21 bouts before this season, with two no-contests. ‘His fights this year have included losses to the New Caledonian, Doudie, and to the New Zealand middleweight champion. Tuna Scanlan.

The Marist hooker, K. J. O’Shannessy, has been 'out of the game for six weeks because of torn ligaments and it is doubtful if he will play again this season. O’Shannessy is a fast striker and his tremendous energy in the loose has been missed by Marist in recent games. ★ The former All Black, fiveeighths, W. M. Gray, who broke his leg while playing in Australia with the Maori team last year, showed up well for Bay of Plenty against Auckland recently and was responsible for unsettling many of the Auckland back attacks. ★ Canterbury’s sole representative in the New Zealand side to play British Isles in the first test at Dun-

edin today, S.« F. HUI, will be I making his 1 eighth appear- 1 ance in a New I Zealand side. I He has played! in Only two I tests outside I New' Zealand,! both against! Australia ini 1957. With the’

exception of the first test in which he played—against Australia in the third test in 1955 —Hill has made all his test appearances in winning sides.

A feature of last Saturday’s Hurley Shield soccer fixture between Nomads and Atlantis was the excellent control of the match by the referee, Mr G. Baxter, of Hawke’s Bay. A referee of considerable experience (he has officiated in an inter-island match), Mr Baxter was on a business trip to Christchurch last week. His firm control of a match in which incidents threatened to develop was appreciated by both players and spectators, who rated Mr Baxter’s refereeing very highly.

Apia soccer supporters, of Australia, have raised £4OO to bring out the top Egyptian goal scorer, Filippo Bottalico, to Australia. Bottalico, aged 21, is a fcentre-forward of the Egyptian club, Zamalek. Although he was born in Egypt, Bottalico is not eligible to play in the Egyptian national team because he has Italian citizenship. He has rejected Egyptian citizenship several times. ' *

The Auckland badminton player, Mrs V. Gow, who last represented New Zealand in 1955. is at.

tempting t o gain a place in the Dominion team for this year’s Über Cup matches. Last year, her first in national competition for several seasons, Mrs Gow reached the semi-finals of the women’s singles at the national championships, where she lost to Miss G. Hopkinson. Mrs Gow represented New Zealand in the 1955 Whyte trophy match against Australia, and she had a comfortable victory over a member of the present Australian team when that side nlayed in Auckland last week.