Sportsman's Notebook Australian Squash Team Due Here Tomorrow

Press, Volume C, Issue 29610, 5 September 1961, Page 7

Sportsman's Notebook Australian Squash Team Due Here Tomorrow

The Australian squash rackets team will arrive in Christchurch tomorrow for ■a tour of New Zealand. It ■will meet four of the leading Christchurch players in the firM match of the tour at the ■Christchurch club’s Chester ■street courts on Thursday night.

The Australian team is not an official representative one, but the four members are all well performed. The team is -captained by R. Thomas, present South Australian champion. The second player is F. Lowe, at present ranked iNo. 8 in New South Wales, iand the team is completed bv R. Pratt the New South Wales junior champion, and IL. Anderson who was run-ner-up for this title. The Australians will be in •New Zealand until September 29. and will make 12 appear.ances in addition to competing in the North Otago starting at Oamaru this Friday. 1 Included in the programme is a match against New Zealand at Palmerston North on Sentember 23. The Christchurch champion and runner-up R. G. Pattinson., D. R. Preston, and the two young University plavers P. M. Hill and L. J Walpole will comprise the .local team to meet the Australians. Pattinson and Preston have peen in excellent form this season, with Pattinson, again showing that his touch game .is difficult to overcome. Hill has had an unfortun■ate season. He missed a lot pf squash through injury, but he competed with success recently at the North Island championshins. Walpole has made rapid improvement diming the year. ft is expected that the visit, tng team will Drove too strong for the Christchurch players, but if is pleasing to see that three of the best of the younger group will have the opportunity of playing They should all derive considerable benefit from the experience. ‘ ♦ * * Primary Sports Postponed in August, the annual primary schools’ sports tournament will now be held tomorrow and on Thursday. Rugby and basketball teams from South Canterbury. Ashburton Christchurch Primary and Christchurch Intermedi=’e Schools will compete. The Rugby will be plaved at Rugby Park and the basketball at the Ha gley courts. Each area is represented bv two teams: under Bst and under 6st 71b Rugby, and open, and under sft basketball. Play will begin each day at approximately 9.15 a.m. * * * Henry Mehrtens One of Canterbury’s leading cash cyclists at the time

when P. O’Shea was beginning to dominate New Zealand road racing, was Henry Mehrtens, who died recently. In 1907. Mehrtens. oft 25 minutes, took fastest time in the Timaru-Christchurch run, and off 10 minutes, his Warrnambool to Melbourne blue riband and his time of 6hr 17min 16sec in the Timaru - Christchurch race was a record until 1910. Competing with Mehrtens in the 165-mile WarrnambooiMelboume race were A. Birch and A. Humm, who finished second and third, P. M. O’Connor, R. Rodgers, G. Smith and E. Boyce. ♦ * » Bigger Entry Entries for the Canterbury Badminton Association’s annual championship and handicap tournament, to be held over the next two weeks, show a considerable increase on the 1960 figures. Entries in all events total 290. compared with 224 last season. The new' events, the B grade championships and the veterans’ matches, have been well supported. Handicap events will be held next week, and championship events the week after. * * * U.S. Golf Visit The New Zealand Golf Council’s unofficial proposal that the United States 1962 Eisenhower Trophy team should visit New Zealand en route from Japan, was unable to be accepted by the United States Golf Association executive committee. The executive director advised that much as the committee appreciated New Zealand’s proposal it felt unable to obligate its players (the team is not yet known) to play in other than the world amateur team championships more especially in view of the United States engagements in three international competitions. Other considerations which precluded agreement were the wish of the Japan Golf Association for its players to visit some other parts of Japan and the possibility of being bound by the schedule of a chartered aircraft. The committee had. however, greatly appreciated the suggestion and regretted it could not be implemented. * * * Basketball The Canterbury Basketball Association will sponsor two remits to the 1962 New Zealand Council meeting which members of the Canterbury executive committee feel could improve the refereeing at the national, tournament. The first, that holders of the New Zealand badge should automatically be accepted as tournament referees if they are available, and second, that the council revert to the systems of appointing referees daily during the tournament.