Thinning-Out Process In Badminton

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31083, 11 June 1966, Page 15

Thinning-Out Process In Badminton

rpHE ranks of the leading A teams in the Canterbury A grade inter-club badminton competition will not be

so closely knit after the fifth round matches, which start next week.

At one stage of the com-

petition the leadership was shared by six of the nine teams in the grade. Now two of these sides have fallen behind and the thin-ning-out process will be carried a stage further in the next series of matches. Railway A, last year’s champion side, and Knox A are unbeaten, and they share the lead with two teams which have played one match more—Christchurch and Selwyn. The two unbeaten teams are both well-balanced, and their meeting in the seventh round early next month could decide the championship. A. G. Duckmanton, the Canterbury men's singles champion in 1963 and 1964, is working his way into top form for Railway, and the enthusiastic R. Mill-

er Is providing strong support. The women members of the team, Mrs M. Miller and Miss D. French, are steady, competent players. Knox A has the services of the Canterbury women’s singles champion, Miss S. Field, who, having beaten her closest rival, Miss B. Gormack (Selwyn), appears likely to emerge from the series unbeaten. A promoted player, Miss E. Stevenson, has justified her selection with consistently good performances. The heady B. W. Crofts, Knox’s captain and runnerup in the last men’s singles championship retains his skill remarkably well while the lively E. Ogier is an opponent no-one can afford to take cheaply. The experienced Christchurch quartet of B. E.

Wylie, D. B. Reid, Mrs M. Wylie and Miss N. Baty is making a strong bid for championship honours, but has yet to realise its full potential in doubles play. Selwyn’s women players, Miss Gormack and Mrs A. Ryan, are formidable in doubles play and have few peers in singles. They have played vital roles in their side’s success so far. R. Hall and H. Williams, the men in the team, are thorough triers who should benefit from the strong competition they have encountered this season.

The remaining sides do not possess such all-round strength as the four leaders but most of them are capable of causing an upset. Avonside is a case in point, for its players include P. V. Boatwood, the provincial men’s singles champion and eighth ranked player in New Zealand ■

Army has the superbly fit, W. Edgecumbe to inspire it; ‘ the team failed by only four points to beat Selwyn this week. The accomplished Malaysian student, Ho Kai Yen, is always worth at least one match to University, but he is not available as a fulltime member of the side.

The Railway B team has a solid look about it and the selection of last year’s triple junior champion, Miss R. Waites, in the Canterbury division I side has given the team a fillip. Knox B has the least impressive record of the nine teams, but the concentration and determination of B. G. Hadlee and the promise of Miss L. Woods cannot be denied for long.