4 CHANCE TO MAKE LOT OF MONEY” Parun joins group, but asks to play in Chch

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32966, 12 July 1972, Page 34

4 CHANCE TO MAKE LOT OF MONEY” Parun joins group, but asks to play in Chch

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent) LONDON. The New Zealand Davis Cup player, O. Parun, yesterday signed a contract to play on the lucrative World Championship Tennis circuit next year.

At the same time, Parun asked that his starting date on the circuit be arranged so that he is able to play in the New Zealand championships which begin in Christchurch on January 15. In a letter to the European director of W.C.T., Mr J. R. McDonald, himself a New Zealander, Parun said he would be able to fulfil his New Zealand commitments if he were placed in group A on the W.C.T, circuit.

The 64-player circuit will be divided into two groups. Group B’s first tournament will begin on January 15 and Group A’s on January 22. “It is not possible to guarantee that any player will be definitely placed in one group or another,” Mr McDonald said yesterday. “However, we will look very sympathetically on Parun’s request and I am optimistic that something can be worked out.” Mr McDonald said that W.C.T. would also be sympathetic to making the same arrangement for the former New Zealand Davis Cup player, B. E. Fairlie, who signed for next year’s circuit last month. “I am personally very pleased that Parun has joined W.C.T.,” said Mr McDonald. “I think that he is an exciting player and will have a great chance to make a lot of money.” Mr McDonald said that about 35 players had already joined the W.C.T. circuit. It is believed that the new Wimbledon champion, S. R. Smith (United States), is among them. Each group on the W.C.T. circuit will play a series of

11 tournaments in the United States, Europe and in other countries to be selected. The individual tournaments will have prize money of $50,000 and points will also be awarded to each player according to the round of play they reach. At the end of the circuit, the four top points scorers in each group will go to a “tournament of champions” to be played in Dallas in May.