Table Tennis Rankings For Southland

Southland Times, Issue 23828, 27 May 1939, Page 15

Table Tennis Rankings For Southland

By

SPIN

The Southland table tennis ladders for men and women have been announced as follows: — MEN WOMEN Robson Mrs J. Croad Loudon Miss M. McGrath Ferguson Mrs S. Robson Brown Miss T. Fems Hollander Miss L. Mehaffey Breayley Miss D. Stott Dobbs Mrs J. Marriott Stewart Miss M. Shand Coupe Miss E. Green Hamilton Miss A. Henderson Harris Miss J. Lynch Corkery Mrs L. Larcombe Any player’ not on the ladder or players up to the seventh position have the right to challenge any player from seventh down. Challenge matches are to be best of three games and must be played within a week of the challenge being placed. Challenges will be taken by either S. Robson or J. Croad and results must be handed into one of them.

The women’s matches last Monday resulted: Star beat Wright Stephenson’s by 9 matches to 1; St. Mary’s beat Civil Service by 10 to nil; and Rata beat a weak Meteor team by 10 to nil. In the B grade Star beat St. Mary’s No. 2 by 8 to 2. Meteor was without Mrs J. Croad and this made a big difference to the match, as she can. generally be depended upon to win most of her matches. Though Miss E. Green (Meteor) found Miss M. Shand and Miss L. Mehaffey too strong it was surprising to see her losing in straight games to Miss Shand. Miss Shand, however, plays a steady game and is always likely to upset players who are considered to be stronger. Star had little difficulty in defeating Wright Stephenson’s though several of the games were very interesting. Miss Ferns (Star) had a long match with Miss D. Stott, who won after three close games. Mrs S. Robson (Star) is playing well this year and she defeated Miss Stott comfortably in straight games. Miss McClymont turned out again for Wright Stephenson’s and she should do well when she has had more practice. Civil Service was no match for the strong St. Mary’s team but it was surprising to see Miss E. Marshall going down so badly to Miss M. McGrath, especially as Miss J. Parfitt did quite well. St, Mary’s is so far unbeaten this year and its match with Star, which is also unbeaten, should be very interesting. On paper, these teams seem evenly matched. MEN’S MATCHES The biggest surprise of the night was the good fight put up by Rovers against St Mary’s, which won by only one game, the sets being five all. Mainwaring and Johnson (Rovers) both gave Dobbs very good games but Corkery (St. Mary’s) beat the two top Rovers men comfortably. Collis (Rovers) won his three matches but he was fully extended by Marriott. Star won by a good margin from Wright Stephenson’s but some of the games were closely contested. It was surprising to find Breayley (Star) losing to Campbell in straight games. Campbell’s steadiness very nearly gave him another win over Loudon. Bailey (Wright Stephenson’s) was playing well and had a good win over Loudon and very nearly beat Breayley. Bailey has a good backhand drive but he is inclined to go out of position for forehand shots. Hamilton (Wright Stephenson’s) found Robson too strong but he pressed Ferguson to three games. Hamilton and Fraser extended Robson and Loudon, going down only by two points after three games. Robson and Loudon have been disappointing in their doubles play this year and they do not seem to have the same combination as in previous years, when it was unusual to see them even pressed. The feature of the Meteor-Pirates match was the win of Breen over Brown after three close games. Breen deserved his win; he played steadily throughout. Walker was no match for Brown but he pressed Stewart to three games, losing only by three points in the third game. Pirates was a man short and Breen and Walker both played extra singles. Ilie Star-Begg’s B grade match was well contested. Begg’s is improving rapidly and should do well in all its matches from now on. Southern is the leading team in this division, and the players are of such a good average standard that it should go very close to winning the grade.