BADMINTON

Southland Times, Issue 25312, 15 June 1935, Page 19

BADMINTON

(By “Drop Shot.”)

The fixtures for next week's round of matches are as follows:—

A grade.—lnvercargill No. 1 v. St. John’s at St John’s; Invercargill No. 2 v. Britannia; All Saints a bye. B grade.—lnvercargill No. 1 v. St. John’s; Invercargill No. 2 v. Britannia; All Saints v. Invercargill No. 3. The A grade matches must be played by June 22 and the B grade matches will be decided on Wednesday, June 19, at the Zealandia Hall. The Southland Badminton Association has been endeavouring for some time to secure the 1935 South Island championships. The game has made such wonderful progress in Southland, especially since the Zealandia Hall has been available, that the allocation of such an important tournament as the South Island championships would be a fitting reward to the body which has directed the affairs of the game in this province. There is no doubt that should Invercargill be lucky enough to hold this tournament the local players will give it all their support. A Grade. After a contest in which some first class badminton was seen and also some fourth class badminton, St John’s defeated Invercargill No. 2 by seven sets to five. Hobbs gave two excellent performances, winning both his games in fine style. Partnered with Gill the St. John’s pair had a splendid match with Reed and Thompson. Gill and Reed were engaged in a baseline tussle with Hobbs and Thompson playing in close. Although Reed’s baseline play was superior to Gill’s, Hobbs was always more agile and anticipated better than Thompson. Anderson and Glennie won the first set easily and the second by the odd point against Masters and Anderson, but at no time impressed as being a good pair. In fact the badminton in this double was very poor. All four players appeared to be able to bring off all the shots and not one knows how to make play for his partner.

Both Miss Goodrich and Miss Wilson are very good players and have some excellent performances to their credit. Last Thursday they did not appear to have the will to win and went down to a pair who are no more than equal to them in ability. The best game in this section was that in which Misses Croad and Fairbum defeated Misses Thomas and McNatty. All four players went for their shots in good style. Miss Croad’s strong back play fits m well with Miss Fairburn’s net play, while the St. John’s pair also combined excellently with Miss Thomas’s drop shots the outstanding feature.

Hobbs and Miss McNatty made no race of it against Hamilton and Miss Wilson. A good service would be a decided asset to Hamilton as Hobbs rushed in to kill his weak delivery time and again. It would have been interesting to see Thompson and Miss Fairbum playing the St. Johns P air - Masters and Miss Shand defeated Anderson and Miss Whitaker easily, being altogether too forceful. Glennie and Miss Sutton played a very fine game combining excellently whereas the Invercargill pair Reed and Miss Croad could not get going. St. John’s and Invercargill No. 1 are now the only undefeated teams in the A grade competition and the match between these teams will be most interesting.