CANTERBURY’S NINE

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31061, 17 May 1966, Page 19

CANTERBURY’S NINE

MRS G. R. MIDDELBERG. —Badminton: A 28-year-old married woman with two sons, Mrs Middleberg has lived overseas for the last four years and a half, and will join the team direct from Britain. With her husband and family she has lived in Cardiff for the last three years; previously they were in Holland for 18 months. As Miss G. Hopkinson she

rose to national prominence in badminton in three years • and achieved considerable success as a member of the New Zealand team which reached the final round of the Über Cup in 1960. Although twice winner of the Canterbury women’s singles title (1957 and 1960) and the North and South Island championships, she found the New Zealand title elusive—she was runner-up in three successive finals from 1958 to 1960. Mrs Middelberg was a physical education instructor who gained her New Zealand Universities blue in badminton. She was also a prominent tennis player, winning national under-19 and South Island open titles and was a senior basketball player for Teachers’ College.

D. D. WlLD.— Shooting: Smallbore rifles. Wild is one of the youngest shots ever to win a New Zealand shooting title, and his rise to the top was so rapid that he was New Zealand A grade and combined aggregate champion

only two years after first shooting a smallbore rifle. He is only 32, but this is the

fifth time he has represented! New Zealand. In 1959, aged 25, he won his first New Zealand title, and this year he was equal first in the Empire Games trials, winning the aggregate at the Ashburton trial. In a sport in which it generally takes 20 years to reach the top. Wild has had an astonishingly rapid rise to prominence. T. J. TABAK.— Cycling: 200 kilometres road race. The 20-year-old Tabak has risen to the top of New Zealand cycling in a remarkably short time, and is Canterbury’s first games representative in cycling since L. P. Lock in 1954., Tabak won the New Zealand senior 100 miles title last year when still eligible to race as a junior, (the first to do so), and on the track last season won the New Zealand pursuit title, was a member of the Canterbury pursuit team which won the national title and set an Australian and New Zealand record for a one-hour unpaced ride. Tabak, a boiler-maker’s ap-

prentice, is Dutch-born and is not yet a naturalised New Zealander.

B. KENDALL. Boxing: feather-weight. A machine operator, aged 19, Kendall has been boxing since the age of nine. He is the present New Zealand feather-weight champion and holder of the Jamieson Belt for the most scientific boxer at the last national championships. Kendall has done all his boxing for the Linwood Boys’ Club and his trainer is Mr W. Darrell. In 1961, Kendall won the 6st 71b national junior championship and the next year he won the under 7st 71b junior championship. He won his first national senior title in the flyweight division in 1963 and, at 16, was the youngest boxer at the championships. The next year he took the bantamweight title. He completed a hat-trick of titles in successive years by winning the featherweight title last year. MISS T. K. SHIPSTON.— Swimming: 440 yard medley, 110 yard and 220 yard backstroke. Selection for Jamaica is the climax of a season of resounding successes for this 14-year-old swimmer. She broke the New Zealand senior 220 yards medley and junior 110 yard backstroke and 220 vard medley records and won the national junior titles for 220 yard backstroke and 220 yard medley. In the gruelling 440 yard senior medley she achieved the fastest time of the season and was ranked in the Dominion’s top 10 in six out of the 11 women’s events —although she has still another season as a junior. Miss Shipston has won 21 Canterbury and three South Island titles and holds 11 provincial records. She is a pupil at St. Margaret’s College, a member of the Elmwood Amateur Swimming Club, and is coached by Mr J. Breward, who taught her to swim at the age of nine. MRS M. A. M. STEPHEN.— Athletics: 440 and 880 yards. As Miss Chamberlain, she reached a pinnacle of her career with a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympic Games 800 metres. Three times holder of the world 440 yards record, this 30-year-old housewife has won 17 national titles and holds the New Zealand records for 440 and 880 yards, as well as their metric equivalents. The Jamaican Games will be her third Commonwealth Games. She won a silver medal at Perth and soon afterwards ran the world’s fastest mile by a woman in 4 min 41.4 sec. The Jamaica Games will probably be her last major international appearance.

A. G. PYNE.— Athletics: mile and three miles. One of the most promising middle

distance runners produced by New Zealand in recent years, Pyne is at present studying at the University of California in Los Angeles. Although the American track season is barely under way, his times have already shown a marked improvement. His best three-mile time of 13min 20.6 sec was faster than any recorded in New Zealand last season and he has made it clear that his main effort will be reserved for this event at Jamaica. However, he hopes to run a sub-four-minute mile before the games and could also do well in the mile.

A schoolteacher before he left to take up his athletic scholarship, he is now 23. He won the national three-mile title in 1963 and was a member of the New Zealand crosscountry team which contested the world championship in Belgium last year. MISS D. M. CHARTERIS.— Athletics: Shot and discus. Although only 18, she is already on the brink of world class and appears destined to succeed Mrs V. I. Young as New Zealand’s leading woman throwing exponent. She has already represented the Dominion in the R. H. North Cup contest against New South Wales.

Formerly of Greymouth but now living permanently in Christchurch, she was runnerup to Mrs Young in both the shot and discus in the recent national track and field meeting. Although she cannot be expected to beat Mrs Young, she has a wonderful opportunity of winning a bronze medal in the shot. In 1965, she was ranked third in Commonwealth rankings for the shot behind Mrs Young and Miss N. McCredie (Canada).

MRS V. I. YOUNG.—Athletics: Shot and discus. After making an eleventh-hour bid for selection, she is now a strong candidate to win both the shot and discus events at Jamaica. At the end of 1965, she was ranked first in the shot for the Commonwealth and third in the discus.

At 29, she is one of the most experienced international competitors in the team, having been a worldclass throwing exponent for 12 years and represented the Dominion in three Olympic Games. She has three Empire Games gold medals and one bronze medal to her credit. She has won the national shot put title 11 times in succession, the discus eight times and the pentathlon twice. This will be her last major international meeting before 'retiring.