N.Z. BEGINS TODAY IN TABLE TENNIS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31341, 11 April 1967, Page 23

N.Z. BEGINS TODAY IN TABLE TENNIS

The large New Zealand table tennis team will play its first matches in the world championships at Stockholm today. The championships will continue until April 21.

The men’s team of A. R. Tomlinson, M. L. Dunn, B. A. Foster, H. J. Waterhouse and T. J. O’Carroll will begin matches against Jugoslavia, East Germany, Bulgaria, Indonesia and Spain in the Swaythling Cup contest for international teams. Jugoslavia and East Germany are world-ranked teams, and Bulgaria is a top European nation. Indonesia could also prove too strong for New Zealand, but the contest with Spain, which has a similar world ranking, could be close. The women’s team of Mrs

N. Traill, Miss C. E. Johnson, Miss Y. Fogarty and Miss D. L. Wade, will meet Japan, South Korea, Norway and United States in the Marcel Corbillion Cup teams event. Japan is the world’s top women’s nation and South Korea has a strong team. New Zealand has little chance of beating them but must have a good chance against Norway and United States. In the world individual events the New Zealanders will appear mostly in second round events. Because they have come the farthest they have been given first round byes and will not play elimination matches. This means they will meet strong opponents in their first matches, and for most of them these games may well prove too tough. The draw Is. Men’s singles: Tomlinson v. T. Pentlila (Finland); Waterhouse v. R. Lehrani (Iran); Foster v. F. Bekaret (Belgium); O’Carroll v. winner of the D. Wall (Canada) v. H. Morgan (Wales) match and Dunn v. G. Germain (Canada). Women’s singles: Miss

Johnson v. B. Rattanak (Cambodia); Miss Fogarty v. B. Warwick (Ireland); Miss Wade v. winner of the M. Jaquet (France) v. Sok Cheng lan (Cambodia) match, and Mrs Traill v. L. Barrie (Scotland). In spite of three weeks of intensive preparation in Britain, the championships will be a most difficult hurdle for the team.