Viggers chasing title

Press, 18 March 1983, Page 34

Viggers chasing title

The squash year has not been going for long, but Paul Viggers, formerly of Hawke’s Bay, will be chasing his fifth tournament success for 1983 in the Court and Field pre-season open at the Christchurch club courts this week- end.

Viggers, ranked No. 7 in New Zealand and an exciting player to watch, moved to Christchurch late last year and will be turning out for Sumner in the inter-club competition. His presence is potentially a great boost to the Canterbury inter-district team, but Viggers is as yet undecided whether he will register for his new district or his old one, Hawke’s BayGisborne, for the national championships. So far this year Viggers has won the Nelson open, the Sumner open, the Canterbury under-23 tournament, and, last Sunday, the Bluff open.

At Bluff, Viggers struck a tough opponent in the indefatigable Bryan Simpson, a former Canterbury representative, and eventually triumphed in the final, 10-8, in the fifth after more than

90 minutes. “It was a real crowd-pleaser," said Viggers yesterday. In the absence of Viggers’ work colleague, Craig Hibbert, one of his main opponents will be Mark Crosbie (Burnside), a New Zealand junior world championships representative last year, seeded second.

The other leading players competing are Robbie Burnett,. Lyn Sparks, John Christensen, Malcolm Mcßain, John Knight, and Wayne Seebeck.

In the women’s draw the late enty of the New Zea-

land representative, Joanne Milne, will boost the competition though she was not included in time to be seeded. The top seeds are Kate Carpinter, Carolyn Oakley, who beat Jacqui James, 3-0, in the final of the Bluff tournament, Freda Walker (Oamaru), Susan Wasley, Tracy Baldwin (Nelson), Suzanne Davies, Gina Maaka, and Wendy Thompson.

The tournament has a total entry of 160 after 20 players were balloted out.