National titles at Pioneer Stadium

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 33

National titles at Pioneer Stadium

Christchurch will host the New Zealand table tennis chamionships this year and, for the first time, they will be held at the Pioneer Stadium. Cowles Stadium, the regular venue for previous nationals, has been booked for an international basketball match.

The main events to be held at the Canterbury assoication’s headquarters in Selwyn Street include the Canterbury Easter Open on April 19; the South Island inter-associa-tion teams’ tournament on May 30 and 31; the Canterbury residential championships on June 6 and 7; the Canterbury open championships in conjunction with the association’s jubilee on August 7, 8 and 9; and capped by the national championships at Pioneer Stadium from August 29 to September 6. The South Island cham-

pionships will be in Dunedin on June 13 and 14, while Christchurch will stage the South Island primary, intermediate and secondary schools’ finals on September 19 and 20. Canterbury’s main hope of a strong showing in the New Zealand events will rest with the former New Zealand junior representative, Karl Entwhistle, the Canterbury A grade and open champion last winter. Entwhistle continued his sharp form in the summer season, remaining unbeaten in the A grade inter-club competition. The sprightly veteran, John Armstrong, Ling Nan Ming, Grant McCarroll and Michael Burrowes are likely to be prominent in the provincial championships, while Thelma May and Pam Shadbolt, the top-ranked Canterbury pair, should continue to take the lion’s share of

the women’s events in the absence of strong competition. The No. 1 ranked junior girl, Joanne Fisher, is one younger player who could threaten the supremacy of the very experienced senior pair.