TABLE TENNIS

Evening Star, Issue 22633, 27 April 1937, Page 5

TABLE TENNIS

NOTES AND COMMENTS The men’s A and B grade competitions commenced on April 21, with eight and 12 teams respectively, while the C grade will start with 12 teams on April 28. The ladies’ competition opened on April 26, with one grade of 10 teams, an increase of two on the previous year. The total number of teams in the men’s competitions is the same as last year. Of the 27 clubs which entered teams in last year’s competitions only 12 have submitted teams again this year, while 10 new clubs have entered. The tendency this year has been for the formation of larger chibs, and so entering a greater number of teams.

lu the A grade competition Grange, Railway, and United teams have disbanded, and new entrants are Paramount, Friends, and Dunedin. In the first games St. Clair went down to Y.M.D., 21-11. There were no outstanding games, although Ramsay, ,of St. Clair, and Harrop had interesting and close games. A. Everson, playing in Hall’s place for Y.M.D., is an ex-Auckland A grade player. He has a very awkward stylo of play, and only lost one game to Robertson. Y.M.C.A., last year’s winners, easily disposed of Friends, 21-11. Pollock and Miller, for Y.M., won all their games, although several were close finishes. The surprise result was Dunedin defeating Mayfair, 17-15. The winner was still undecided until Hall, of Dunedin, took one game from G. Claridge. The schoolboy, H. Claridge, played well, taking two games off Hall and one each from Smyth and Brown. Brown, for Dunedin, was the most outstanding player. In the B grade there are several new teams, and the majority was beaten by more experienced opponents. The only close game was when St. Patrick’s, last year’s winners, defeated St. Clair, 18-14. During the short time that the association ladder has been in operation this season 12 challenges have been submitted and played. B. Stanton defeated Allan and C. Claridge, Harrop went down to Miller 21-14, 21-18, while Pollock beat Paape and G. Claridge. Hall went down to Harrop, but in turn beat G. Claridge 15-21, 21-15, 21-18. The present placings are: D. Miller, A. Harrop, C. Hall, J. Pollock, G. Claridge, J. Laidlaw, A. Paapo, A. Barclay, E. Stanton, C. Claridge, D. Smyth, and J. Allan. In summing up oh their recent tour of the South Island Messrs Longmore and Burke stated that the wooden bat or a sand-paper surfaced one is still used extensively, while the type of ball in common use is a heavy one that does not comply with the International Table Tennis Association’s ruling. Taking those factors into consideration, the standard of play is only fair, but with the increasing popularity of table tennis the use of a lighter ball and a rubber-faced bat, together with more interprovineial contests, should soon do much to put the game on a higher level.