COMMONWEALTH GAMES N.Z. Defeats In Bowls, Badminton, Fencing

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32352, 18 July 1970, Page 14

COMMONWEALTH GAMES N.Z. Defeats In Bowls, Badminton, Fencing

(N.Z.P A. Staff Correspondent) EDINBURGH. The New Zealand bowling four went down, 16-17, to Canada in their first game on the fourth day of the Commonwealth Games event yesterday.

They went into the 21st, and last, head equal with the Canadian four, but lost the match on the final bowl when the rival skip, T. R. Jarvis, played a toucher.

On the first official morning of the Games, New Zealand also had two of its three fencers eliminated from the preliminary series of the men’s individual foil and lost one of its leading players in the men’s singles of the badminton. After their defeat to Canada, the New Zealand bowling four had a record of four wins and five losses, and lost their sixth placing to the Canadians, who had five wins and four losses. The chances of the New Zealanders now winning a bronze medal the most they could expect, appeared extremely slim. Favourite Tactics After four ends on the Balgreen rinks, the New Zealanders were leading, 3-1, but the Canadians soon began to use their favourite tactics of pushing shots through the head. New Zealand’s hopes took a tumble on the fifth end when the Kiwis dropped six shots, but helped by some magnificent play from the skip, R. L. McDonald, had brought the score back to 7-8 at the eighth end. The New Zealanders slumped again in the middle stages, dropping to 9-15 at the thirteenth end, but once more they recovered, to be 16-al 1 after the twentieth. The head at the twenty-first

was a loose one and Canada i had three shots on until Mc-|l Donald pushed the jack: through. His effort was in! i vain, however, Jarvis placing,i a toucher to win the match. J In other nine - round matches, Northern Ireland beat Australia, 20-15: Kenya ■ beat Fiji, 37-10; England beat Malawi. 20-16: Hong Kong beat Guernsey, 25-17; Papua-, 1 New Guinea beat Wales, j 26- Zambia beat Scotland,' 27Pickworth Qualifies i Tn the opening of the fenc-' ing, B. Pickworth (Auckland) | was the only New Zealander to survive the elimination series in the men’s individual foils. He had a 4-3 record in the third pool and narrowly qualified for the semi-finals. He won the place on a counVback of hits from R. S.l Elliot (Hong Kong). Another New Zealander, R.i Peterson, also had a 4-3 record in the second pool, but| lost on the count-back by twoi hits. In the first pool, M.i Henderson had a hard time; finding his best form and' went down in four of sevens bouts. The Wellington player, J. Compton, became New Zea--1 land’s first casualty in the | badminton. He lasted only 1 1 17 minutes in the first round ' of the men’s singles before being beaten by the third- ’ ranked S. Goel, of India, 15-2, 1 15-6. Compton was never given a 1 chance against the masterful ! play of his opponent. A ser- ‘ ies of unforced errors and 1 mid-court mistakes cost Comp. 1 ton dearly, and he was trailing 1-13 within a matter of t minutes. He rallied his game

slightly but Goe) was unexpended to take the first set. Compton started the second | set with more confidence but again found himself merely (the pupil in a severe bad- , minton lesson. Down 240, be tightened his game and produced a short burst of three {winning shots. It was a late [time to stage a rally and Goel was again untroubled to {take the set, 15-6, and the {match. ' Later the New Zealand bad{minton champion, R. Purser, | easily won his way through to I the second round, defeating S Gulam (Kenya), 15-2, 15-3. The game was all over in 23 minutes as Purser, the fifth seed, was untroubled. His next opponent will be Yeo Ah Sing, of Singapore, who beat the New Zealander narrowly {in Singapore six weeks ago.