Mills superb, but not selected

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33426, 7 January 1974, Page 1

Mills superb, but not selected

A superb throw of 17.67 m (57ft lljin) on Saturday by the veteran Auckland shot putter, L. R. Mills, failed to win him late selection for the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team. When die deadline was reached yesterday, no additions had been made to the team.

Mills made his fine throw on the training ground at Queen Elizabeth II Park during the Canterbury decathlon championship shot put.

Canterbury officials immediately held an emergency meeting, and afterwards the convener of the New Zealand track and field selection panel (Mr B. Hunt, of Taranaki) was notified by telephone of the performance. He agreed that it warranted further consideration by the Games selectors, and set the wheels in motion for this to be done.

Mills’s throw, his best since he injured his shoulder after the Olympic Games at Munich, places him eighth in the Commonwealth and considerably higher than most of the athletes already named in the New Zealand team. It was also almost 4ft 6in greater than the original selection standard for tha event.

The chances of H. D. Kent (Wellington) winning last minute selection for the Commonwealth Games ended unfortunately on Saturday morning.

Training with the Games cycling team manager (Mr D. B. Smith), Kent was involved in an accident with a car, and his cycle frame was damaged beyond repair.

He had another frame sent to Christchurch, but the unsuitable weather which has dogged all his efforts to ride a fast kilometre continued. On Saturday evening, before the New Zealand open Madison championship — the last chance for Kent — he did not even bother to ride a kilometre in the blustery weather.