NATIONAL TABLE TENNIS SEEDINGS

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32053, 30 July 1969, Page 19

NATIONAL TABLE TENNIS SEEDINGS

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON. The highly-ranked English table tennis player, S. R. Gibbs, has been seeded only No. 2 for the New Zealand open men’s singles championship this year.

The title-holder, B. A. Foster (Otago) has been seeded No. 1 for the championship, to be decided at Auckland between August 27 and 29.

“I would expect Gibbs to win the title,” the convener of the seeding committee (Mr A. Harding) said yesterday. “It might be unusual to you but I think the man who is the title-holder should be the top seed.”

When Gibbs and D. Neale competed in the national championships in 1967 they were both seeded ahead of the top New Zealand players. Since then Gibbs has slipped from third to fifth in the English rankings. Seedings for the open events are:—

Men's Singles.—B. A. Foster (Otago) 1, S. R. Gibbs (England) 2, A. R. Tomlinson (Auckland) 3, T. J. O’Carroll (Hamilton) 4, H. J. Waterhouse (Wei, lington) 5, J. Armstrong (Canterbury) B, G. A. J. Frew (Northland) 7, G. V. Wilkinson (Auckland) 8.

Women’s Singles.—Miss Y. M. Fogarty (Otago) 1, Miss J. E. Brown (Hutt Valley) 2, Mrs J. F. Boswell (Franklin) 3, Mrs C. E. Tadema (Hamilton) 4, Miss D. L. Wade (Auckland) 5, Miss G. E. Kemp (Hutt Valley) 6, Mrs J. G. Orr (South Taranaki) 7, Miss K. A. Fraser (Central Waikato) 8. Men's Doubles. Tomlinson

and Foster 1. T. J. O’Carroll and K. T. O’Carroll (Northland) 2, B. H. Cross (Hutt Valley) and Waterhouse 3, B. K. Kennerley (Auckland) and Wilkinson 4. Gibbs and M. Eng (Aucklnd) 5. R. L. and F. R. Foster (Wellington) 6, D. G. Couper and K. Fisher (Auckland) 7, M. w. Borlase and D. T. Thorner (Hutt Valley)