TABLE TENNIS CONTESTS

Southland Times, Issue 24181, 18 July 1940, Page 10

TABLE TENNIS CONTESTS

MATCH AT BALCLUTHA ~ON SATURDAY By SPIN The men’s table tennis team to play against South Otago at Balclutha on Saturday has now been announced and appears to be the strongest that could have been chosen. It is doubtful whether J. be available and in his absence D. Coupe would have a chance of selection. South Otago has a solid team led by W. Fogarty and it will give our players some very hard games. The match itself should provide excellent practice for the Otago match. The first representative match against Otago this year will be played on August 3 at Dunedin. While the men should not be hard to pick, providing none of the top players is away in camp, the women members of the team will prove much more difficult to select. The following players appear to have a choice of selection. Men.—J. Ferguson, D. Hamilton, S. Robson, J. Loudon, T. Breayley, J. Marriott, J. Fraser, E. Coupe and K. Forde. Women.—Mesdames J. Marriott, S. Robson, A. Macnee, E. Blacke, Misses M. McGrath, T. Ferns, D. Stott and J. Deegan. It is to be hoped that the Southland Association will be able to arrange for a representative match for B graders this year. Such a match would not only encourage juniors, but would assist them to improve their game. COMPETITION MATCHES Last week there was only one surprise in the men’s matches and that was when Southern defeated Union by 34 games to 2. Union was second oh the championship list and although Southern has been improving rapidly it was a surprise to find it winning so convincingly. "tar A is still unbeaten in this competition and second to it is Woodend. The match between the two leaders, which should be played shortly, should prove a very close one. In the A grade Union put up a poor showing against St. Mary’s and was beaten very easily. T. Breayley, top Union player, had a night off and he managed to win only two games out of eight. J. Marriott (St. Mary’s) was in good form and he won all of his eight games. There were no surprises in the women’s matches last Monday evening and. Southern still leads by four points from United with Star A and Broad Small’s two points further back. South-

ern has a good solid team and even without Mrs 0. Paton it had a comfortable win from Woodend by eight sets to two. For Woodend Miss Stevens played very well to defeat Miss O’Halloran. This was a hard-fought game and Miss Stevens just won .by two points in the" third game.