Elimination Match In Men’s Tennis

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31187, 11 October 1966, Page 18

Elimination Match In Men’s Tennis

Linwood Avenue, the bottom team in the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association’s senior men’s competition last season, will play United, the senior reserve winners, in a match at United on Saturday to decide the eighth team in the senior men’s competition.

The competition proper will start on Saturday week. The decision to play the promotion-relegation match was made at a meeting of the association’s competitions committee last evening after receipt of a letter from the Linwood avenue club, which said that “over the last five or six years the club had tried to build up the standard of tennis, both in the club and the association. "We have managed to hold our players, although our top player. I. Stanton, has been ■ approached every season for the last three years by clubs which are struggling to get enough players to keep their i entry in senior competition.” Some of these clubs, the letter claimed, had gone to the

extent of offering free subscriptions to induce players to play for them. Although its senior men's team finished bottom of tho competition last season, its per formances were "quite good. " with two wins, four losses on sets only, two losses by two matches to four; one loss. 1-5. and one, 0-6. The letter said that the club had its problems last season At one stage It had two of its players in camp, and one playing In the final of the New Zealand junior under-17 singles. One of these players was also used by the Canterbury junior association for the Slazenger shield team. Mr M. C. Healey moved that there be an Increase to nine teams in the grade. The motion was seconded. Mr A. C. Lee. deputising for the chairman (Mr D. A. Atkinson), said that the decision to limit the grade to eight teams had been made by the delegates' meeting, not by the competitions committee. When the association called for team nominations it had specified eight teams. The committee could not alter this The motion was defeated unanimously. The other teams in the senior men’s grade will be the same as last season—Beckenham. Cashmere, Elmwood. Woolston. North Linwood, University and Edgeware. There will again be four teams In the senior women's competition which will begin on November 5. There Is one change from last year because Shirley did not enter, but United did. The other entries are Avonside (last season’s winner), Edgeware and Elmwood. The losing team from Saturday's senior men's elimination will enter the senior reserve competition which will begin on November 19. There will be 67 club teams in competitions this year, compared with 66 last year. Teams In lower grade competitions (starting date shown in parenthesis) will be: Senior Reserve (November 19). Avonside, Barrington. Beckenham, Fendalton. North Linwood <1 and 2), St. Albans. United. Shiirley, plus loser of elimination match. Second Grade (November 19).—Section A: Avonside, St. Albans 1, Beckenham. Fendalton, Linwood Avenue 1, Spreydon. United, Edgeware. Section B; St. Albans 2, Opawa, Linwood Avenue 2, St. Martins. Cashmere, Woolston, North Linwood. First Mixed Grade A (October 29). Avonside, Beckenham, Cashmere. Fendalton, Opawa. Shirley, Spreydon, St. Albans. First Mixed Grade B (November s).—Barrington, Elmwood. Fendalton, North Linwood. University, Walmairl, Woolston, St. Mary’s. Second Mixed Grade (October 15).—Avonside, Elmwood, Fendalton, North Linwood. Shirley. South Christchurch. Spreydon. Walmairl. President’s Grade (November 5). —Barrington, St Albans. Opawa. South Christchurch. Spreydon, Walmairl.