Table Tennis Canterbury Too Good For Wellington

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29851, 18 June 1962, Page 9

Table Tennis Canterbury Too Good For Wellington

Canterbury’s table tennis representatives took the CMpshaw Trophy for the seventh time in 11 contests when they defeated Wellington. 15-13, in the annual fixture in the Selwyn Street Hall on Saturday. Even without the national champion. M. L. Dunn, Wellington fielded a powerful men's team which defeated Canterbury’s best, 10-2, but Canterbury won the women’s matches. 11-1. and shared the vital mixed doubles. Although the Canterbury men went down to a more accomplished team, they were not disgraced. J. Armstrong, in his defeat of G. J. Jennings avenged several losses to the same player. Jennings beat Armstrong in the Hutt Valley tournament recently, and also several times when he toured New Zealand with the Australian side two seasons ago. Jennings, as he had shown in his earlier match with T. R. D. Flint, was in very fine attacking form, and he soon threatened to hit Armstrong off the table. However, the Canterbury player managed to stay with Jennings for most of the first game, and then came in with some perfectly-timed drives to take it at 21-19. In the second game Armstrong again won points when he took the initiative. and the Wellington captain was forced into some costly errors. The young Wellington player, W. N. Evans, recently returned from two seasons on the Continent. showed the benefit of this experience in all his matches. He took a close first game from Armstrong, lost the second by a wide margin when Armstrong mixed his game, but came back in the third with a variety of shots to which Armstrong had no answer. Evans showed good ball-control, intelligent use of spin and the ability to drive winners off both wings. In the bottom half of the Canterbury men’s team, both V. N. Brightwell and K. F Stevenson showed good form. Brightwell found his forehand functioning particularly well against G. H. Roselli, and only an occasional costly lapse prevented him from also beating last year's South Island representative, R. L. Foster. Brightwell led Foster 20-18 in the first game, only to lose the next four points. Close Matches Stevenson fully justified his selection by pressing both Roselli and Foster in very close matches. Against Roselli he succeeded in slowing down the play, and gained 18 points in each game. He won the first game of his match against Foster, but later the Wellington player gained control with steady attacking to take the decision. Wellington’s sole victory in the women’s section was gained by Miss J. Warwick at the expense of Miss F. Inglis, of Canterbury. The left-handed Miss Warwick plays a most unusual style of game, crouching over to pick up shots from underneath the table, and returning

them with heavy top-spin Understandably, Miss Inglis was a little puzzled, by this, but handled the returns much better by the end of the match. Miss Warwick later troubled Mrs J. Shadbolt, but the Canterbury player came through with bursts of all-out hitting. The other Wellington women were never a threat. Surprisingly, Mrs T. McGregor was played in the bottom half, perhaps in an attempt to gain some wins, but she was no match for either Mrs t. Frisk or Mrs T. May. gathering a mere five points in the second fame of her match with the ormer. On several occasions this contest between Wellington and Canterbury has been decided on the mixed doubles, and usually Wellington . has prevailed. Wellington had only to bring the score to 14-all to be assured of victory on a count-back of games, but Canterbury came through to take two of the mixed doubles, and could well have won all four. Vastly superior in combination, Brightwell and Miss Inglis had the easiest of wins against Roselli and Miss Warwick. Brightwell troubled Miss Warwick with heavy top-spin, and Roselli did nothing to combat this. Armstrong and Mrs May also went to a fairly comfortable victory against Evans and Mrs R. Futter. Results (Wellington names first) were:— MEN'S SINGLES G. J. Jennings lost to J. Armstrong. 19-21, 16-21; beat T. D. Flint. 21-8, 21-11. W. N. Evans beat Armstrong, 21-19, 10-21, 21-13; beat Flint. 21-13. 21-14. G. H. Roselli lost to V N. Brightwell. 19-21. 21-18. 15-21; beat K. F. Stevenson. 21-18, 21-18. R. L. Foster beat Brightwell, 22-20, 21-18; beat Stevenson, 19-21, 21-15, 21-10. WOMEN’S SINGLES Miss J. Warwick lost to Mrs J. Shadbolt. 15-21. 13-21: beat Miss F. Inglis, 21-14. 21-17. Mrs R. Futter lost to Mrs Shadbolt. 5-21, 9-21: lost to Miss Inglis, 5-21. 21-18, 15-21. Mrs T. McGregor lost to Mrs T. May, 22-20, 16-21. 16-21; lost to Mrs J. Prisk. 21-17. 17-21, 5-21. Miss L. Stevenson lost to Mrs May, 11-21. 21-14, 15-21; lost to Mrs Prisk, 12-21. 10-21. MEN’S DOUBLES Jennings and Roselli beat Brightwell and Flint. 23-21. 18-21, 21-17; beat Armstrong and Stevenson, 21-16, 21-18. Evans and Foster beat Brightwell and Flint. 21-12, 17-21. 21-15; beat Armstrong and Stevenson, 21-12. 21-14. WOMEN’S DOUBLES Miss Warwick and Mrs Futter lost to Mesedames Shadbolt and May. 11-21, 14-21; lost to Miss Inglis and Mrs Prisk, 9-21, 18-21. Mrs McGregor and Miss Stevenson lost to Mesdames Shadbolt and May, 22-20. 18-21, 10-21; lost to Miss Inglis and Mrs Prisk. 21-19, 15-21, 16-21. MIXED DOUBLES Jennings and Mrs McGregor beat Stevenson and Mrs Prisk, 21-15, 25-23; Evans and Mrs Futter lost to Armstrong and Mrs May, 18-21, 15-21; Roselli and Miss Warwick lost to Brightwell and Miss Inglis. 16-21. 13-21; Foster and Miss Stevenson beat Flint and Mrs Shadbolt. 21-19. 21-19. Canterbury won by 15 matches to 13.