SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 173, 23 July 1931, Page 3

SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

j m s ?§» '**i $ s iie e»e s s $ s m os he is ie ee 3 The following is the Marlborough team to compete in the New Zealand amateur boxing championships:— Bantam-weight, O. Rayner; light, J. Simonsen; middle, A. Dasler; lightheavy, J. Tierney. Otago are to be represented by a full team in the New Zealand crosscountry championship at Auckland on August 29, and will also be represented at the harriers’ conference, at which one of the proposals to be brought forward is that in future three prizes should be awarded for the individual championship instead of two, as at pre sent. Most disappointing form was showr. by the competitors at the Otago box ing championships, and the tournament was one of the poorest for some years (says the “Star’s” Dunedin correspondent). Bert Lowe, the New Zealand amateur welter-weight champion, was left without a competitor in his division. He is in fine form, and will be one representative Otago can depend on at the New Zealand championships. Another is Johnny Richmond, the exNew Zealand amateur fly-weight cham pion. lie won the bantam-weight division by default, but in a no-decision bout gave a fine display of fast and clever boxing, clean hitting, and good footwork. He should do well at Ashburton. In the fly-weight P Rumble took the eye as a likely lad. He is an effective straight puncher with a vicious right uppercut. In the middle weight class the Southlander, F. Prendergast. won as he liked. Southland is decidedly fortunate in possessing two middle-weights of the calibre oi Prendergast and Bagrie, the present New Zealand champion. Prendergast has a decision over Bagrie, and is a most likely looking prospect—a good straight puncher, smart on his feet and one who shows variety in his work.

Merivale have a player who, they claim, is in a unique position. He is a life member of the club, and is still playing. The player is N. Carnegie, who was recently raised to life membership after having been a financial member of the club for twenty years. He plays senior B. At a meeting cf the Rugby Union last evening, an application lor assistance from the insurance fund came from Carnegie, who was injured in a recent game. The applica-

\ tion had been held over from a prej vious meeting because, as far as the i union knew, Carnegie was not a finani cial member of any club. On receipt ! of the club’s explanation, it was dej tided to treat Carnegie as a financial : member, B. Taj-lor, the Christchurch hooker, is playing really good football this season. One outstanding feature is his tackling. On Saturday, Rowe, the Merivale winger, made a very deterJ mined bid for a try in the score-board | corner. Taylor came in hard with a i grand tackle that carried Rowe feet outside the corner flag. Hutt are drawn to play Poneke on Athletic Park, Wellington to-morrow, Eastbourne will play Wellington, and Maris t will meet Wellington College Old Boys. At present Hutt and Wellington lead with 20 points each, and Poneke and Eastbourne come next with 18 points. If Poneke beat Ilutt, and Ea-ribourne beat Wellington, these four teams will have an even break for the top of the ladder. According to advice received in Auckland, Mrs Katerina Nehua, the leading endurance swimmer of Australia, intends touring New Zealand shortly with the object of demonstrating her powers of endurance in the water. Mrs Nehua, who is a Maori, will be remembered for her plucky performance in an endurance swimming contest in Sydney early in February. Notwithstanding the fact that she had no previous experience of this class of swimming, Mrs Nehua, whose husband was unemployed, entered for the sake of her practically destitute family of four children. She displayed great fortitude in gaining second place to the wellknown English swimmer, Miss Mercedes Gleitze. Mrs Nehua’s itinerary includes an endurance swim at Aucldand exceeding 100 hours. The longest time she has ever remained in the water is 72hr 21min, which at present stands as the third best performance in the world. An old dodge cropped up the other day in a French casino when a game of baccarat was in progress. A gang squared the croupier to give them some sealed packs of the casino cards, and these were marked on the backs so as to distinguish the “ naturals,” the ; eights and nines, which play such an important part in the game. The marking was done with a substance invisible to the naked eye but easily seen by anyone wearing tinted glasses. One of the gang stood by the game as an onlooker and signalled his confederates. The coup is so old that it

is a marvel the thieves got away with it for a time, as they are said to have done. People wearing coloured glasses are objects of deserved suspicion in Continental casinos where card games arc being played.

Though Australian riders on dirt tracks carry off most of the big prizes in Britain and the Continent, they do not do so well in match races between teams. For the second time the series of annual test matches between English and Australian teams has been won by the Englishmen, who scored 55 points to 37. * Victor Huxley was the outstanding rider for Australia, and scored in all his heats save one—in that he fell. The Queenslander has been riding with greater success than ever this season and should clean up a fat cheque.

Golf is the game every father should make his boy specialise in (comments the Sydney “Bulletin' 5 ). It is the only one that can offer the spectacle which is to be witnessed in Sydney a.t the present time—a lad of sixteen (Jmi Ferrier) within half a dozen strokes of a man of seventy odd (J. S. Marks). Marks (5) is a match for many a scratch player on his day, and he would have done better than some of the erratic performers who got knocked out in the early stages of this year’s amateur championship at Rose Bay if he had been a starter. In every other outdoor sport Time lays a restraining hand on the enthusiast just as he has learned something about it. Rowing has to be dropped in the early twenties by ninety-nine men out of a hundred; footballers and boxers don’t last over thirty, or cricketers over forty, as a rule. Few cross-country riders _ are anywhere near the/r best after thirtyfive, and many find their nerve going before that. Golfers are like old soldiers and amateur gardeners—they never die.