Sportsman’s Notebook Title Defence Not An Easy Task

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30216, 22 August 1963, Page 18

Sportsman’s Notebook Title Defence Not An Easy Task

The New' Zealand basketball championships win start at Rotorua on Tuesday. Canterbury, co-winner _ with Rotorua last year and holder of tlhe New Zealand Cup, and Canterbury Subunion teams will compete in the tournament. Canterbury will be handicapped by having four players in the New Zealand touring team, and only three members of last year’s team, C. Brown (captain), J. Cusdin and L. Shaw, will be taking part. The team showed promising form in defeating Otago and Southland to win the South Island tournament but was disappointing in its recent match against South Canterbury. The form teams at present are Wellington and Rotorua, which have been playing well in North Island matches. The team which could cause an upset is Southland. Canterbury’s most difficult day will be Wednesday, when it meets Wellington and Southland. Canterbury’s draw for the tournament is:—Tuesday: v. Matamata, v. Manawattu. Wednesday: v. Wellington, v. Southland. Thursday: v. Wanganui, v. Hawke’s Bay. Friday: v. Otago, v. Auckland. Saturday, v. Rotorua. Unions Stronger Last year the Canterbury sub-unions team was cowinner of the third grade and co-holder of the Kiwi Trophy. This year the team is the strongest for many seasons and recently extended Ashburton, a second grade team, in a representative match. The team might win its way into the second grade, and to do this, it must win the third grade outright. The sub-union team is M. Denton (Hurunui), N. Kingsbury (Banks Peninsula, captain), A. Uren (Hurunui), K. Butt (Banks Peninsula), P. D. Idharn (North Canterbury), P. Pickering (Lincoln), M. Scottock (North Canterbury), F. Barclay (Lincoln), and B. Hamm (Lincoln). Mrs P. Earl (Hurunui) is the manageress, and the coach is Mrs A Ford (Lincoln). ¥ ¥ ¥ Chance Missed Canterbury badminton enthusiasts will not have an opportunity to see any of the three teams—Malaya, India and South Africa—which will be in New Zealand next month, unless they travel to other districts. A number of Thomas Cup ties will be played as well as several other matches while the teams are in New Zealand. Canterbury, which unsuccessfully applied for a Thomas Cup tie, was to have had a match on September 10 and 11 between Malaya and the loser of the India v. South Africa ma>tch. However, the Malayan teem is required in Australia before that date for its Thomas Cup game. The New Zealand colts v. South Africa contest was then allocated to Chnstehurch. but was refused by the Canterbury association as it apparently thought the expected financial loss would be too greet It is unfortunate that badminton followers in a major association such as Canterbury will not have an opportunity to see in action art least one of the three overseas teams, which will be touring New Zealand at the same time.

Amateur Boxing The Greymouth Boxing Association will stage its most ambitious matching on Saturday night. The Australasian light-heavyweight champion and Empire Games medallist, A. Madigan, will fight the New Zealand light-heavy-weight and Australasian heavyweight champion, J. Logan (West Coast). Madigan, an Olympic finalist, is considered one of the best amateur boxers in the world. Logan is a New Zealand representative and recently won the Australasian heavyweight championship in Sydney. ¥ ¥ ¥ Stumbling Block Since Lincoln College came into the senior reserve Rugby grade last year it has found the University teams a stumbling block in its endeavour to win the grade. Last season Lincoln was beaten once and drew with University A and also drew with University B. This year Lincoln suffered its only loss against University A and also had a fairly narrow win against University B. With its defeat of Lincoln College this year, University A achieved quite a good double for it also beat Otago University B which plays senior Rugby in Dunedin. ¥ ¥ ¥ Gear Shed Planned The Waimairi Surf Lifesaving Club plans to build a new gear shed ait a cost of between £2OOO and £2500. The new building will be erected on the site of the present gear shed but will be more than twice as big. The club hopes to knock out the wall between the juniors’ room and the proposed 48ft x 30ft gear shed to make an area large enough to store all the gear and accommodate the juniors. The club has 28 qualified juniors and another 25 to 30 not yet qualified.