James Morris wins title

Press, 22 June 1981, Page 34

James Morris wins title

PA Nelsor North Island’s James Morris won his first and Marlborough’s Debbie Looms hei ■fourth singles titles at the South Island open table tennis championships in Nelson at the week-end. A former New Zealand team captain, . Morris beat Manawatu’s Malcolm Darroch 21-11, 19-21, 21-9, 21-15 to take the men’s singles title but had to survive a tense semi-final match against Canterbury left-hander John

n Richards. Richards upset several 1- other more highly ranked players on his way to the e semi-finals, including his i- Canterbury team-mate, n Michael Hamel, and Auckland's David Jackson,, who d recently won the Hutt Valley lt open title. Richard beat Hamel 21-18, 5 19-21, 21-16 and 21-14 and e beat Jackson 16-21, 21-16, 21e 16, 16-22 and 22-20. Against >t Morris, Richards was two a games up and held a match

point in the fourth game. But Morris’s fighting spirit prevailed. Looms overcame the current New Zealand test captain and Canterbury p uyer, Jan Morris, to wi’ the . women’s singles final. Morris is the current New Zealand and North Island singles champion but lost to Looms 23-21, 20-22, 19-21 and 19-21. This was Looms’s fourth successive win over Morris in the South Island women’s singles final.