B.A. Foster Has Rare Loss In Teams’ Table Tennis

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31768, 27 August 1968, Page 18

B.A. Foster Has Rare Loss In Teams’ Table Tennis

B. A. Foster (Otago), the favourite to win the men’s singles at the national table tennis championships, suffered only his second defeat of the season when he was beaten by W. M. Borlase (Wellington), 21-18,21-16, on the first day of inter-association matches yesterday.

Borlase hit consistently and Foster’s usually brilliant retrieving could not contain him. Foster lost to the CanterburyMalaysian, Ling Nan Ming, early in June but since then he has won.

Foster beat Borlase in both the South Island and North Island men’s singles finals and on Saturday evening he had no difficulty in beating him, 21-9, 21-18. Last evening Borlase beat G. A. J. Frew (Northland), seeded a place ahead of him in the men’s singles, but he could not manage the concerted attack of T. J. O’Carroll (Northland), losing, 9-21, 14-21.

Frew showed he will still be a force at the championships when he beat H. J. Waterhouse (Wellington), 21-16, 21-9. More spice was added when Waterhouse beat O’Carroll.

Northland emerged as the likely winner of the men’s A grade when it beat the defending champion, Wellington, 6-5. Wellington led, 3-1, but Northland won the next three games. Northland is also the only unbeaten team in the women’s A grade. It beat Hutt Valley, 7-4, Canterbury, 6-5, and Auckland, 7-4. Mrs N. Traill (Northland) enhanced her chance of regaining the women’s singles title when She beat the defending champion. Miss D. L. Wade (Auckland), 21-17, 21-10. , v South Canterbury leads the men’s B grade, and the strong Otago team and Franklin lead the B grade women.

Canterbury Disappointing The Canterbury men had -a disappointing day. They lost to Otago after having a Stand chance of success and in the afternoon were beaten 11-0 by Northland. In the evening Canterbury lost. 2-9, to Auckland. Canterbury had a 5-4 lead against Otago but V. N. Brightwelt (Canterbury) was unable to repeat his earlier success against G. B. Murphy and lost 11-21 in the third game. J. Armstrong had to beat Foster if Canterbury was to win but although he tried hard he lost 19-21, 14-21. Ling Nan Ming took a game from Foster but was not allowed to become settled in the later game*. Without Ling Nan Ming, Canterbury piayea dismally against Northland. None of the Canterbury players could match tne steadiness of their opponents but R. Mitchell played with skill in his first game for Canterbury. He was able to pass both K. T. and T. J. O’Carroll on occasions. Armstrong had a long, hard struggle with an old adversary, G V. Wilkinson (Auckland) but lost 17-21, 21-12, 13-21. During his the first game the expedite rule had to be imposed after the players had played for htore than 15 minutes without a result. The game then became more open and Armstrong changed his bat regularly In an endeavour to take the advantage’ Canterbury Women The Canterbury women had a satisfying day. In the morning they beat Auckland, 6-5, after the score had been 4-4, and in the evening Canterbury was too powerful for North Taranaki, winning 7-4. , , ... Canterbury was level with Northland with the last singles to play, but Mrs T. May (Canterbury) could not match Mrs Traill’s accuracy. Against Auckland. Mesdames J. Frisk and Y. M. Boulton (Canterbury), both came to light at vital stages to give Canterbury a 6-4 lead and victory. Mrs T. McGregor (Wellington) caused a major upset when she beat the eighth seeded player for the women’s singles, Mrs J. F. Boswell (Franklin), 21-17, 21-19, in the second round of the women’s B grade matches. Results were:— ' MRN A Grade

First Round.—Otago 6, Canterbury 5; Wellington 7. Hutt Valley 4; Northland 7. Auckland 4. Second Round. —Northland 11. Canterbury 0; Wellington 7, Otago 4; Auckland 10, Hutt Valley 1. Third Round. Auckland 9, Canterbury 2; Northland 6, Wellington 5; Otago 10, Hutt V*lley 1. B Grade

First Round. Hamilton 6, North Shore 5; Wanganui 8, Franklin 3; South Canterbury 6, Waitemata 5. Second Round.—VJaitemata 6,

Hamilton 5; North Shor* 7, Franklin 4; South Canterbury 7, Wanganui 4. Third Round.—South Canterbury 6, Hamilton 5: Waitemata 9, Franklin -2: Wanganui 6, North Shore 5. C Grad* Section I.—Flrat round: Nelson 7, North Taranaki 4; Manawatu 7. South Taranaki 4; East Waikato 6, Marlborough 5. Second round: Manawatu 8. East Waikato 3; South Taranaki 6, Nelson 5: Marlborough 9, Taranaki 2. Third round: Nelson 6, East Waikato 5; South Taranaki 10, North Taranaki 1; Manawatu 8. Marlborough 3. Section 2.—First round: Central Waikato S. Poverty 2; Southland 7. West Coast 4; Wairarapa had a bye. Second round: Southland 7, Central Waikato 4;

Wairarapa 7, Poverty Bay 4; West Coast had a bye. Third round: Central Waikato 9, West Coast 2: Southland 7. Walrarapa 4; Poverty Bay had a bye. WON KN A Grad* First Round.—Canterbury 6, Auckland 5; Northland 7, Hutt Valley 4; Hamilton 8, North Taranaki 3. Second Round.—Hutt valley 8, North Taranaki 3; Northland 8, Canterbury 5; Auckland 6, Hamilton 5. Third Round.—Canterbury 7, North Taranaki 4; Northland 7, Auckland 4; Hamilton 8, Hutt Valley S. B Grad* First Round. —Franklin 7, Wanganui 4; Nelson 8, Wellington 3: Otago 9, South Canter-

Second Round. —Franklin «, Wellington 5; Otago 8. Wanganui 3;- Nelson 7, South Canterbury 4. Third Round.—Franklin 10. South Canterbury 1; Wellington 7, Wanganui 4; Otago 7, Nelson 4.

C Grade Section I.—First round: Central Waikato 9, West Coast 2; Wairarapa 8, Southland 3. Second round: Wairarapa 8, West Coast 3; Central Waikato 9, Southland 2. Third round: Central Waikato 6, Wairarapa 5; Southland 10, West Coast 1. Section 2.—First round: South Taranaki 6, Marlborough 5; Manawatu 9, Hawke’s Bay 2. Second round: South Taranaki 1, Manawatu 4; Hawke’s Bay 6, Marlborough 5. Third round: South Taranaki 7. Hawke’s Bay 4; Manawatu 7, Marlborough 4.