JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE TENNIS CONTESTS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29994, 1 December 1962, Page 9

JUNIOR REPRESENTATIVE TENNIS CONTESTS

THE Canterbury junior boys’ and girls’ lawn tennis teams should again be able to W’in their zones of the Slazenger and Howe Shield competitions this season. The girls will play at Wilding Park today and tomorrow and the boys at Nelson next Saturday and Sunday. Today the g.rls will meet Marlborough and, if they win. will play the winner of today’s Nelson-West Coast match, tomorrow. Top for Canterbury last season. Miss S. Rich is not now eligible, but Misses H. Bruce, of Ashburton. D. Smith and C Andrew, of Rangiora, who were members of last year’s team, have been selected again and the new players are

Misses L. King, who will play today, and Miss D. Hopping, who will play tomorrow. Canterbury has not won the Howe Shield, which has been held 10 times by Auckland, three times by Wellington, once by Waikato. Last season, when zone memberships were different, Canterbury was beaten by Auckland by eight matches to two in the inter-zone semi-finals. Auckland beat Hutt Valley in the final. The Canterbury boys’ team is in much the same position as the girls’ team; it has lost a leading player, L. W. Watkins, who is now over age but it still has G. G. Ford, R. McCutcheon, and A. Brooks, who were members of last season’s team.

The new players are W. Edgecumbe, who will play next Saturday against Marlborough, and J. Cullington, who will play on the Sunday. The draw is the same as that for the girls. Canterbury has won the Slazenger Shield once, in 1957. Auckland, the present holder, has won nine times, Wellington three and Waikato one. Last season, Canterbury was beaten, 8-2, by Auckland in the semi-finals. Auckland beat Wellington, 7-3. in the final. This season the inter-zone semi-finals and finals will be held in Christchurch on January 28 and 29 after the national junior championships. The last time they were held in Christchurch was the year the Canterbury boys won.