BADMINTON

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 283, 27 August 1935, Page 15

BADMINTON

Wellington Tourney

WOMEN’S PLAY REVIEWED

(By

Shuttle.)

The finalists in the women’s singles at. the Wellington Badminton Association’s championships tournament are Aliso Alildred East and Miss Dorothy King. On their play they are the logical finalists. It was regrettable that an injury to Miss East on the day the final was to be played prevented the match from being staged. On the other hand the postponement creates a precedent that can easily lend to dangerous results.

-Miss Dorothy King sportingly asked for the postponement, as there could be neither pleasure nor merit in beating an incapacitated player. But a player ought to have no say in the matter at ail. A tournament is run by a committee according to set rules. A playa who cannot continue when called upon to do so ought to be defaulted and the match given to the opponent. Hard as it may seem, this is a proceeding that ought to have been followed in the present case. Had Miss East received her injury in the middle of the tournament and had she thus been nimble to play when called upon there could have been no argument. Miss East would either have had to default or be scratched. . Either of these solutions, it must be admitted, would have been unfortunate, for Miss East is playing right at the height of her form and a final between her and Miss King would be worth seeing. Aliss East has no devastating smash, but she lias a rare steadiness, anticipates well, quickly finds the opponent’s weakness and plays to it. makes the fullest use of the court, and is full of courage and determination. She plays al! her matches on a set plan, accommodating herself to that of her opponent. She uses the dropshot with skill, and clears high and deep. Miss Dorothy King is a much more aggressive player with easily the finest smash among the women. She puts plenty of wrist action into the stroke so that the shuttle travels with speed and its direction is well disguised. She is fast about the court, and she possesses'a variety of strokes. Also she varies her service well. Her main defect is a certain carelessness when opposed by players whom she thinks she can beat.

Miss C. Phillips. Miss C. Phillips is a better doubles and mixed doubles player than she is a singles player, although her singles standard is well up in the senior grade. Her game, generally, is not severe, and she is not quite fast enough hi the very highest class of singles. But in doubles and mixed doubles she is quick at intercepting, and ■wins points at the net by sharp angled shots, or smashes the shuttle straight down.

Aliss N. Alorgan has not been playing so well this season as she did last. In the main this seems to be the result of lost confidence rather than any deficiency in stroke production. Except that she is not severe in smashing, and the shuttle “floats” after she has hit it, there is little fault that one can find with her strokes. Her game is mainly oue of placement, with a varied service and a judicious use of the dropshot. Latterly she has not been clearing high or deep enough aud consequently she- has bad to play more on the defensive. But one never hears Miss Alorgan, whether in victory or defeat, do other than give the opponent just praise. Miss J. Bennett is another player who is seen to better advantage in doubles and mixed doubles than in singles. She is not a stylist. Rather her game is strong and rugged and determined. These attributes frequently carry her past opponents much better equipped from the stroke point of view but without her fighting qualities. She is steadier than most ou her backhand.

Greatly Improved Player, One of the most improved players el

the season is Miss J. Denby, who distinguished herself in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, but particularly the latter. Paired with V. Dixon, she Helped him to defeat notable performers, and the way she stood up to the bombardment of I’. Hawksworth was a treat to watch. Often she gave as good as she

One of the finest performances of tile tournament was that of Miss Margaret Whyte, when, with Mrs. Gibson Stott, she nearly beat-Misses Morgan and Hyun. Mrs. Gibson .Stott was steady and reliable and did well all that was asked of her, but Miss Whyte played an inspired game. For some strange reason she was made very often the ceutrc of attack, and so she was many times seen in the posi-

tion of playing both opponents. Il was not strange, seeing the tcrriflic amount of work that she had to get through, that she faltered at times. She would scarcely have been human if she hud not. She was everywhere about the court, not. only playing her own shots, but covering Sirs. Gibson Stott iu case her partner could not play the shuttle. She did not spare herself iu auy way. The closeness of the contest, did much to shake the confidence of the opponents for their next round.

Miss M, Ryan is a keen playerswithout being a brilliant, one. She moves quickly about the court, but she is apt in her anxiety to make too many miss-hits. She lacks severity, but makes up for this to gome extent with her skill in placing. The next season should see her a gieatly improved player.

Miss Z. Castle. A player who ought to improve out of sight is Miss Zillah Castle. This is only her first season, but already she lips shown herself a player of' no mean standard. She does so well because she enjoys the game so much and thus plays with a certain joyous abandon. Most of her daring shots have a habit- of coming off. Allied to this daring is her quickness about the court and her variety of strokes. She is fast developing a useful smash, and site is equally safe on the forehand and backhand. Miss Claire Longmore has no outstanding strokes, but there are few steadier players, anti none who fights harder from almost hopeles positions, Sue very seldom gives the opponent n chance Jo play a favourite stroke. She excels, in short and sharply angled shots. Al.»o. her returns of smashes are consistent, Her own smashing, is. not severe, but the shuttle drops quickly. She varies her game well. Miss P, Carr has height on her side, but site dpes not use it nearly enough in her smashing, which is not so severe sis it ought to be. Site thus finds nerself in the position of having to smash three or four times when she ought to have killed on the first. She is weak on the backhand compared with her forehand. She varies hex- service well nnd plays the dropshot usefully. Her clearances are high and deep. She is not quite fast enough about the court or in anticipating the direction of the opponent’s shot. Therefore, she Inis too often to p.ay the shuttle from close to the ground so that what ought to have been an attii'-’king stroke frequently becomes a defensive one. Miss L. Berry plays more of the careful type of badminton. She docs not hit nearly hard enough when she gets the shuttle in a favourable position. Nor is she fast enough about the court often being caught flat-footed. She lias, however, the strokes to improve if she will lint hit harder. Although slow, she tries for almost everything. Miss Grey, who partnered Miss least, proved herself a steady and reliable player without any flashes of brilliance. She was stronger on defence than attack.

A Division of latbour. Miss Hale, who is a left-hander, divided her time between playing badminton nnd acting ns trensnrer. In both departments she wns of use. In tile first she showed n fair nptitudc for senior standard, nnd in llm second she was highly efficient. In her play the ideas were there even if the execution was sometimes lackiug. There was very little of

dofcuce in her game, and so she lost points through trying to attack at the wrong time. The best part of her game was her clearance. Miss McGoun g«ve the impression that she would sooner lose the point by playing the stroke correctly than win it by getting tlie shuttle buck anyhow. Like many who try to play the strokes as they should be played, according to the best textbooks, she is not quick enough about the court. Where she has -mt to move far she plays some delightful shots. Where she has to move some distance she is a little late in arriving and her stroke suffers in consequence, A little more speed and enthusiasm or abandon would make her a very much better player.