CRASH FROM THE HEIGHTS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31167, 17 September 1966, Page 11

CRASH FROM THE HEIGHTS

TT is doubtful if a New Zealand table tennis player has suffered a sharper fall from the heights than that undergone recently by A. R. Tomlinson. From the dizzy heights of success in Australia two months previously, Tomlinson crashed to defeat at the hands of two players with slim chances of doing well at the national championships. Twice New Zealand men’s open singles champion, in 1959 and 1964, Tomlinson was ranked with M. L. Dunn (Auckland) and B. A. Foster (Otago) as one of the country’s top players at the start of the season.

On tour, Tomlinson overwhelmed Australia almost on his own. In the two internationals he conceded only one game in his four singles matches and he combined with Foster to win the doubles match in each test. Tomlinson is the touch player of New Zealand table tennis, but this gift has been acquired only through years of practice. He stands right up to the table and hits, hardly moving his body into position at all. Anyone who moves away from the table to defend against this stream of attacking shots is quickly hit out of the game as Tomlinson rarely makes a mistake and the sustained pressure he applies is usually enough to ensure an easy win. Over the years, only Dunn of New Zealand’s players has been able to beat Tomlinson with any consistency. And Dunn is also a hitter,

although he moves further away from the table than Tomlinson. Expecting that Tomlinson would sweep all before him until he met Dunn, New Zealand table tennis was stunned at the events of the national championships.

In the AucklandWellington contest, Tomlinson was twice beaten by players who also stood up to the table and hit. The harder Tomlinson hit, the harder H. J. Waterhouse and M. W. Borlase hit back. As they were both better on their feet than Tomlinson they were able to drive him away from the table and force him into errors.

Tomlinson’s weakness in moving was shown up, but Borlase and Waterhouse had to play brilliant table tennis, better than they had ever played in their lives before, to do it. If T. J. O’Carroll (Northland) had not persuaded himself to move away from the table when Tomlinson began cracking the ball, but had kept on looping at the table, he could have beaten him, too.

Tomlinson must now be wondering what the sport holds for him. At the age of 32 he can hardly alter his entire game from that of a pure hitter to that of

a looper, and yet it looks as if Waterhouse and Borlase have the game to beat him every time they meet. Few players have put as much into the game as Tomlinson, and he is largely responsible for the current trend to top-of-t Le-table Play.

It is not as if his own standard of play is declining —but his star seems definitely on the wane. This year, for the first time since 1953, he did not appear in the final of any event. No-one could deny that it still pays to hit in New Zealand table tennis. It is just that there are younger, faster, hitters coming througl.