BADMINTON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22964, 20 August 1936, Page 5

BADMINTON

By Shuttle

CLUB HOURS I Dunedin Twenty.—Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoons. K ,'d.—Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday afternoons. Dunedin.—Monday, Thursday, and Saturday afternoons. Balmacewen.—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Maori Hill. —Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. FIXTURES ' i Otago Championships.—August 17, 19, j 20, and 24. North Island Championships, at Wellington.—August 24 to 29 inclusive. New Zealand Championships, at New Plymouth.—September 2 to 5, inclusive. B GRADE CHAMPIONSHHIP The final B Grade match for the season was played last week when Balmacewen met and defeated the ■ University team by 11 games to 1. I Lawson and Ibbotson were the pair who registered a win over M'lnnes and Garden in -the Men's Doubles by 15—10, 15—7, and in their game against Ferguson and Wright it took a threeset match to decide the issue, the hill pair eventually winning 18—15, 12—15, 15—8. The Women's Doubles were easily taken by Balmacewen, as were the Mixed Doubles. In the series of seven interclub matches —a total of 84 games—the Balmacewen team has lost only tight games this season. This is a particularly fine record, and one that the championship club can feel justly proud of. Generally sneaking, the record of the hill club shows that it could have performed with credit had it been in the A Grade competition, and next year, providing it still has players of the. calibre of Ferguson, Wright, M'lnnes, Garden, Mrs M'lnnes, Misses Philip, Logan, and Melville, to mention only a few, the club should have no hesitation in following the lead of the Camac Club, which this season moved up from B Grade to A Grade. The following table shows the posi--1 ion of the teams at the end of the B. Grade championship:—

THE TOURNAMENT Good progress was made on the first night of play in the Otago Badminton Association's championship and handi- - cap tournament on Monday evening last, when approximately 100 games ■ were played. Excellent organisation was evident, with the result that there - was little delay between games. The . Handicapping Committee Messrs Grimsdale, Ibbotson, and Dickinson — has, generally speaking, done its job well, and, with few exceptions, no player has been too liberally treated, . or, on the other hand, over handi- . capped. More than 120 players are . participating in the tournament, and . from the results of the preliminary rounds some highly-interesting games in the finals are assured. All the clubs are well represented in the tournament with the exception of the University ' Club, but with examinations in the offing this is quite understandable. ' It is. particularly pleasing to note the ; number of first-year; playere who are participating in the championships, and '- the experience gained from this tournament should prove extremely valu- \ able to them in the future. '■i • In the Men's Handicap Singles some : bright and keenly-contested games I were fought out. The semi-finalists in ..this. section—Abbott, Shand, Dickin- - son, arid Ferguson—all gave good ex- ' hibitions, and Ferguson, on the owe 12 mark, played cbnsistently throughout. Though beaten by Dickinson, who was on an owe 21 handicap, by 21—18, the former was by no disgraced, Dickinson played' well on Monday ".night,"-.and maintained a consistent standard, of: play in his matches. If anything, however, his play Was not quite: up to the standard he has revealed on former occasions, and though his attack has lost none of its "sting," he has been seen to better advantage, An interesting game should be witnessed between him and Abbott on Monday night, as both these , players play attractive badminton, /Abbott has been practising assiduously of late, and on his present form he .should give a good account of himself in this match. Against his clubmate, J. Shand,.who was on the owe 18 mark, Abbott, minus 18, played excellently. . Towards the end of the game, however, it became evident that Shand was tiring, having been previously engaged in some stern tussles,, A good performance in coming through to the third round of the: B section of this event was registered by Gourley, who, being practically a beginner at this sport, has adapted him-self--very quickly to the finer points of the game. Gourley is a member of the Camac Club, and within a short Eeriod.of linking up as a playing memcr he was given a place in the club's B team. More should be heard of this .- player in the future. The form shown by E. Barron, oi the United Club, was disappointing, for, on occasions, this player has revealed a sound knowledge and a particularly high standard of play. He is by no means showing the form tliiat he displayed in last year's tournament. He may be regarded as being somewhat unlucky in having drawn in his first encounter R. Craik—a formidable opponent at any time. Miss Angell, a young player, did well to reach the semi-finals in the Women's Handicap Singles, but, as was only to be expected, she was defeated by the more experienced Miss Kerr, who, on a minus 21 handicap, v/as not seriously tested. Miss Walker also maintained a good standard to come right through to the semi-finals, and, against Miss Burton, was handicapped to the same extent as her opponent. She fought out a closely-contested game, the result of which, 21—20, was in doubt until the very end. . „ Miss Walker will meet Miss Kerr in the final of this event, and though the chances are somewhat in favour of Miss Kerr, it must be remembered that the latter player has a large handicap to wipe off, and, as has been said before, the fortunes of the players in badminton fluctuate often and freely. In her first game in the Women s Champiqnship events Miss Woods,playing against Miss Emslie, played fairly '. well, but lost by two points. The result of 11—4 in the second game, however, would indicate that Miss Woods was feeling the strain, and tiredness was probably the reason for the heavy defeat. When playing up to her best form Miss Woods is a difficult player to beat, and this makes the results more surprising. On the other hand. Miss Emslie gave a good account of herself, and went through to the semi-finals, where she was beaten by Mrs Clarke 11—6, 14— 11. Two clubmates, Mrs Clarke and Miss Bolwell, will probably meet in the final of this event, and though on present form the indications are that Miss Bolwell will be the winner, her opponent should nevertheless make matters interesting. Drawn to play Miss Frapwell in her first encounter, Miss Bolwell took the match by default. In the second round, when she met Mrs Clarke, she played brilliantly and outshone her opponent in all departments of the game. On the owe 19 mark, and Mrs Clarke on the owe 12 handicap, the result of this match, 21—2, was most decisive. For the third round of this event Miss Bolwell was matched to play Miss Burton, who was on her way to the semi-finals. By defaulting to Miss Burton, Miss Bolwell may have had her own reasons, but to the majority of players it was taken as a very sporting gesture on her part. In this respect Miss Burton can be regarded as unlucky in not reaching the finals, being beaten by Miss Walker 21—20. NORTHERN HAPPENINGS The second interdistri'ct badminton content between teams representing Wellington, Wairarapa, Hawke's Bsy, Kr.ncvatu. end Wanganui, was played

in Palmerston North recently, and resulted in a win for Wellington with 84 matches and 1721 points. Wairarapa came next with 62 matches and 1592 points, and then followed Wanganui, 51 matches and 1284 points, Mahawatu, 23 matches and 1016 points, Hawke's Bay, 20 matches and 1065 points. Manawatu, 13 matches, 366 points, beat Hawke's Bay, 11 matches, 366 points. Wairarapa, 19 matches, 443 points, beat Manawatu, 5 matches, 258 points. Wellington, 24 matches, 440 points, beat Manawatu, no matches, 147 points. Wanganui, 19 matches, 348 points, beat Manawatu, 5 matches, 245 points. Wellington, 20 matches, 428 points, beat Wanganui, 4 matches, 239 points. Wanganui, 18 matches, 369 points', beat Hawke's Bay, 6 matches, 325 points. Wellington. 23*matehes, 447 points, beat Hawke's Bay, 1 match, 179 points. Wellington, 17 matches, 416 points, beat Wairarapa. 7 matches, 327 points. Wairarapa, 14 matches, 402 points, beat Wanganui, 10 matches, 328 points.

Balmacewen . p. , 7 . w. 7 L,. U. f. — 14 Dunedin 20 A . . . 7 6 1 — 12 Dunedin A , 7 5 2 — 10 United .. . 7 3 3 1 7 Camac , 7 3 4 — 6 Dunedin B , 7 2 5 — 4 University . , 7 — 5 2 2 Dunedin 20 B .. , 7 — 6 1 1