TABLE TENNIS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 135, 9 June 1937, Page 2

TABLE TENNIS

WANGANUI ASSOCIATION THE RANKING LADDERS NOTES AND COMMENTS ’(By “Chop.”) The Wanganui Table Tennis Association ranking ladder now reads as follows; Men 1. H. Jones. 2. B. Hawkins. 3. A. Healey. 4. J. Broad. 5. R. Hoskins. 6. J. Dempsey. 7. L. Connor. ■ 8. D. Davidson. i 9. R. Garner. ; 10. R. Parker. I 11. C. Byers. 12. I. Forrester. ladies I 1. Miss O. Glover. i 2. Miss L Glover. I 3. Miss E. Gillies. 1 4. Miss M. Clark. : 5. Miss E. Nicholls. 6. Miss V. Clarke. The following matches must be played before Tuesday, June 15:— Healey v. Hawkins;, Hoskin v. Broad; Connor v. Dempsey; Garner v. Davidson; Byers v. Parker; Connor v. Forrester. Miss Gillies v. Miss I. Glover; Miss Nicholls V. Miss M. Clarke; Miss Feist v. Miss V. Clarke. A reminder is also given of the inlerclub matches to be finished by June 19, otherwise the winners to enter the next round will be decided by a toss of the coin. Table tennis players in the South | Island have become very enthusiasiic following the visit of representatives of the New Zealand Table Tennis Association to some of the larger centres. Associations are being speedily formed and the game put on a proper footing. It is the intention of the N.Z. Association to have North and South Island championships in addition to the New Zealand meeting. Representatives of the N.Z. Table Tennis Association also visited Stratford recently, and the meeting there was exceptionally well attended, visitors coming from Waitara, Nev.Plymouth. and Hawera. Wanganui will In the near future no doubt, receive a visit of a representative team from the Wellington centre, and the local players would do well to keep their bats pretty sharp in view of the selectors being on the job. Rubber-faced bats have superseded the old "ping-pong” bats, faced with sandpaper, cork, etc., and although rubber has not been used generally in New Zealand up to a few years ago the following little account of the first use of rubber on a table tennis bat will interest most: In 1902-3 a Mr. E. G. Goode, of Putney, entered for a "great” tournament to be held at the Royal Acquarium, Westminster, commencing on a Monday. The previous Saturday, returning from his office, gripped with a headache, he entered a chemist's shop. As his eye rested on the chemist's cash mat lie had an inspiration and purchased the mat. Cutting down the spikes to a suitable length, he pasted it to his bat. A steady week-end's practice endowed Mr. Goode with a flick backhand topspin drive and his progress through the tournament became a line of devastation. In the final he defeated Mr. A. C. ("Ping Pong") Parker, then champion of England, by the large score of 50 points to 3. Gyozo Barna's (world champion since 1929) most famous back-hand drive is no more than an exact replica of this backhand flick drive introduced 35 years ago by Mr. Goode. It is the variety and control afforded by the rubber-faced bats that has developed table tennis to an exercise capable of testing trained athletes, and an international sport capable of attracting to its world championships last year the representatives of eighteen nations and a spectacle ot engrossing interest to 10,000 spectators in the finals. The space provided for these finals is 60ft. by 40ft. and it is on record that in 1935 Barna drove Szabados into one corner, Szabados injuring his hand against the post. In regard to the weight of bats no one should use a very heavy bat as it tends to tire the wrist. The heaviest used by an attacking player weigh about Roz., and the lightest used by the defensive type of player weighs about soz.