THE SPORTING WORLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 1 March 1939, Page 8

THE SPORTING WORLD

Variety of Pars from Here and There By “liltA” r-rr - sr.il

Finland And Mir (Mimes While New Zealand is busy making' tali oil at tilt- ID4O Olympic Games, it is interesting to learn from Finland that i there will be a fuller programme or! events than was anticipated when the; venue of the Gaines had to be changed from Japan at short notice. In Berlin, three years ago. there were' 125) events. At Kelsinki. next year, there will actually be 132. made up as follows: Field and track events, 33; gymnastics, 8; swimming and water polo. Hi: rowing. 7: yachting. 4: canoeing. ?); wrestling. 14; weight-lighting. 5. boxing. 8; shooting. 5; fencing. 7: modern pantathlon, 1; riding. 6; football, 1; gliding. 2. Handball, hockey, polo, basketball, and women's gymnastics have been cut out of the ID4O programme, and in their place are four new athletic events, namely. 10.000 metres walk and women’s putting the shot, broad jump, and 200 metres flat, in addition to several shootThus.'it will be seen that Finland has gone very capably about the difficult business of organising the Games at short notice, and endeavouring at the same time to retain their original character. As part or its national fitness campaign which began in 1000. Finland had already built swimming and boxing stadiums and running tracks suitable for first-class .athletes. Thus she was fortunate in being well prepared, and world athletes next year should benefit accordingly.

NELSON Batting J. Caskie (Wakatu) 83 1 T. Vass (Athletic) (A R. Vass (Athletic) 54 R. E. Simpson (Y.M.C.A.) 47 C. Kinzett (Wakatu) 39 V. Blincoe (Y.M.C.A.) 38, J. Ching (College) 31 ! Bowling R. E. Simpson (Y.M.C.A.) ... 4 for 43 L. Max (Waimea) 4 for 52' ... .Joyce (Waimea) 4 tor 04 C. Neale (College) 3 for 25) R. N. Busch (Old Boys) 3 for 41 J. Brown (College) 3 for 52 j J. Newman (Old Boys) 3 for 72' MOTUEKA Batting E. Bisley iWhakarewa) 61 II Smith (Molueka) 45 1 R. Bowers (Riwaka) 45! L. Goodyer (Motueka) 42 11. Burrows (Brooklyn) 40 I Hol.voake (Riwaka) . 36 O Limn (Whakarewa) 34! M Holdawav (Lower Moutcrc) . 32 Bowling R. Holdawav (Lwr. Mouterc) n for 63 C. Askew (Riwaka) 6 for 19 R. Sigglekow (Up. Moutcrc) 6 for 31 j E. Bisley (Whakarewa) 4 for 32

| Rcrriplx Will Suffer, i It is known that the receipts at WimI btedon were down last summer, and I fears have been expressed that with no ; stars, such as Donald Budge and Helen Wills Moody, next summer's Wim-: l btedon tournament will sutler ever j j more. But the English Lawn Tennis, ] Association has little to wory about. At the moment, reckoning its seeuritics at cost, they are worth £69.576. British Government securities alone • amount to £58.023. Budge Ranks Tennis Stars. I Budge's ranking of Austin (England) las the world’s leading tennis amateur, with Bromwich (Australia) in second i : place, and Riggs (U.S.A.), Menzel • (Czechoslovakia ), Wood (U.S.A.), Make 1 .'(U.S.A.), Cejnar (Hungary), Quist : I (Australia), Henkel (Germany ) and i j Grant (U.S.A.) in that order has evoked (the expected criticism. Adrian Quist ! here expresses his opinion as follows: ; j John Bromwich is superior to H. W. Austin; he is younger, has more stamina j [land is definitely better from the base-j line. I have played with both men in j ; i major matches and I know the Aus-1 I tralian is more difficult to defeat. Even ion results alone he must be placed ! ahead of the English player. Yet Austin has been ranked top by i ' Donald Budge on one tournament— i I Wimbledon. Austin’s place at the head I of the world’s amateurs is, to me, ludicrous. I think Riggs, Bromwich and ; Yamagishi would defeat him on any j surface. From reports I believe he was extremely lucky to survive the first round at Wimbledon against Filly—the match j went to five sets and Filly is far from being in the first flight. I Bunny Austin was a great player, jand undoubtedly still can play magnificent tennis —at Wimbledon. But he has never proved himself away from ! his home courts. ! j The ranking of a player on one tour- ‘ nament is ridiculous. Austin, although | he reached the final against Budge, was defeated in three very easy sets. I On the other hand John Bromwich I defeated Riggs in the Davis Cup challenge round and also carried Budge to four very close sets. If Bromwich had 1 beaten Budge in the fourth set of that : ! challenge round the issue might have. ; been extremely close in the fifth. 1 ! Austin, in my opinion, would lose to , both Riggs and Budge. ;! Donald Budge is a magnificent ten-, ' ; nis player, but as a critic he does not j |rank so Highly. Harry Hopman, so far; as judging a tennis player’s abaility is j concerned, has forgotten more than i ■ Bufclge ever knew, j. It will be recalled that when Tliden j » turned professional he made some ) extremely weird rankings. When Hemi j Cochet came to Australia on a profesijsional tour he ranked R. O. Cummnigs. I > of Queensland, in the world's first ten We all knew that Jack Cummings was j a spent force at the time. Why, he | was not ranked in Australia in the first j ten the year he turned profesional. , All this indicates that when amateur players turn professional their ideas also change and their ranking seem to be more or less something to keep { i them constantly in the limelight. ' I Returning to Austin, it must not be 1 ! forgotten that he was defeated in a • ! major tournament, that is, the British ? j hardcourts championship, by Kho Sin | j Kie. of China —beaten rather easily. I ' would not rank Kho Sin Kie in the ’ world's first ten by any means; he might get into the world’s first 15. As far as my own ranking by Budge ; is concerned, it has no interest. World ; ranking in any case means very little. ? For instance. I would place the Japan- . ese. Yamagishi. who has had very, few 1 performances, ahead of Sidney Wood. I Gene Mako. Henkel and Menzel. He is a better tennis player than any of ' those mentioned. 1 World ranking is merely one man’s [ personal opinion. •It is the custom for each of the present-day leading scribes | to offer his opinion. Actually, I think . one man should be chosen from each j: country and. together, they should form , a council. Jointly they could issue an ? official ranking list. Members of this . council would, of course, have to be ? appointed by the Lawn Tennis Associas tions in each country. Quite candidly, I would say that Len ) Schwartz, of South Australia, would \ I have an even chance against Bunny j • Austin. And I believe he would defeat L such players as Menzel, Mako, Cejnar, ? i and Henkel. - ! There may be some who will disagree a | with that statement. However, I have ! ' 1 played against all these world’s ranked a * players, and there are quite a few 1 'I would sooner meet than Len Schwartz.: r j Jack Crawford and Vivian McGrath. -i J Each of these is better than some of . 1 those ranked in Donald Budge's list of “world's leading tennis players of 1938.”