A Diary of Sport TABLE TENNIS SEASON

Southland Times, Issue 24229, 12 September 1940, Page 11

A Diary of Sport TABLE TENNIS SEASON

Good Progress Made GRADE COMPETITION WINNERS By SPIN With the tournament held last week the official table tennis season has now concluded. This year has proved to be one of the most successful since the formation of the Southland Table Tennis Association and there is no doubt that the sport is gaining in strength and popularity. If it had not been for the war and the resultant loss of many of the men players, the association would in all probability have had to arrange for another hall next year to accommodate all the players. . The four grade competitions run by the association have now been completed and the winners are as follows: Men’s A grade, Star; women’s A grade, United; men’s B grade, Star A; women s B grade, Southern. The Hollander Cup for the best average in the men s A grade was again won by S. Robson (Star), with three losses out of 80 games, while D. Hamilton was second with seven losses. . During the season there has been considerable interest in the mens competition and ladder matches and it is interesting to note that the two topplayers, J. Loudon and S. Robson, are pen-holders. These two players have always been at the top, and although Loudon changed over to the tennis style last year he came back to his original grip this season and of late has done better than ever before. Of the top players D. Hamilton has shown most improvement and his game has improved all round. The experience he has had of late should further benefit his game and he should do much better next year. J. Ferguson has as a whole been disappointing. While at times he has extended the best players he has lost several games to inferior players. J. Marriott has improved his position this season and his forehand won many games for him. T. Breayley has not lived up to his early promise and while at times he has shown first-class form he has disappointed on several occasions. J. Fraser has improved a great deal and at his best his forehand and backhand drives are difficult shots to return. One m the features of the year has been the good form shown by the following young players: —M. O'Neill, K. Forde, H. Sayer and J. S. O’Brien.

WOMEN PLAYERS Tlie top woman player was undoubtedly Mrs J. Marriott, who has again had a successful season. Miss M. McGrath has also done very well and she had several close matches with Mrs Marriott. The next four players were Mesdames A. R. Macnee, S. Robson and M. Blackie and Miss T. Ferns and there is little to choose between them. Mrs Macnee did very well after being out of the game for two years. The interprovincial teams championships held at Wellington were successful. Wellington won both the men’s and women’s competitions. The Southland men’s team started well by defeating Hawke’s Bay by eight sets to four. Robson and Hamilton won both their singles while Robson and Breayley won their two doubles games. The next match was against Hutt Valley, but while the latter team won by the comfortable margin of 12 sets to nil many of the individual games were close. Robson played well in his singles, losing to Wesley (one of the four outstanding players in the tournament) in two close games and to G. Corbet after a strenuous threegame match. Hamilton had a close two-game match with Corbett, while Breayley showed good form against Wall and Croudis. Robson and Breayley, although they seldom play together, showed good combination against Wesley and Corbet and were narrowly defeated after three hard-fought games. Wellington was too strong all round for the local players, but D. Hamilton showed his best form of the tournament when he was narrowly beaten by E. Boniface, 20-22, 16-21. In his other singles game Hamilton fully extended L. Wilson and lost only after three close games. Robson was off form in his singles, but with Breayley took Boniface and Smith, the Wellington doubles champions, to three games. Breayley showed his best form in his singles games against Kennedy and Osbaldiston. t

WANGANUI WINS The next match was against Wanganui and after Southland led by five to three the match was won by Wanganui by seven sets to five. Fraser struck his best form in defeating Hird and with Hamilton went close to winning the last doubles and the match for Southland. The women’s team’s first match was ' against Auckland, the latter winning by 10 sets to two. Mrs Robson started well by defeating Miss Jones in straight games, the latter player being also defeated by Mrs M. Blackie in three games. Mrs Marriott and Miss T. Ferns, although unsuccessful, went, close to winning their games. Although defeated by Hutt Valley by nine sets to three, the team put up a good performance. Mrs Marriott was in her best form and she defeated two of the four seeded women for the singles championship, Mrs Ingham and Miss Strang, in straight games. Miss Fems was still out of luck and seemed fated to lose her games by two points. Wellington proved too strong, but Mrs Marriott again was in her best form and she caused surprise by the way she defeated another seeded player, Miss Croxton, who had won the Wellington singles title two nights before. The last match was against Hawke’s Bay and this time the Southland team won by 10 sets to 2. All the team were playing well in their singles, but the doubles combinations were poor. This was as surprising as the two recognized doubles pairs were expected to do well in that department of the game, but only on odd occasions did either of the pairs show their best form. CENTENNIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS The men’s singles championship provided the spectators with many interesting games and considerable interest was taken in the meeting in the final of the two top seeded players, R. A. Algie (Otago) and E. Boniface (Wellington). In the teams competition Boniface had narrowly defeated Algie, but in the final Algie was on top throughout and had little difficulty in winning in straight games. One of the features of the tournament was the excellent performance of tire Otago team, three of whom, R. A. Algie, W. Fogarty and M. Friend, reached the semi-finals of the singles. Of the local players Mrs Marriott was expected to do well, but after defeating a seeded player, Mrs Ingham, in straight games she surprisingly lost to Miss Croxton (Wellington) in the next round. Robson met Boniface in the second round and after fully extending him lost in four games. D. Hamilton played with E. Harrop (Auckland) in the men’s doubles and these players went into the third round before being narrowly defeated in the fifth game by Wilson' and Kennedy (Wellington). Robson and Breayley met Boniface and Smith, the Welling-

ton doubles champions, in the second round and put up a very good' performance to take the match to four games. The sending of eight players to represent Southland at the championships has proved successful and the local association is to be congratulated on its initiative. The tour has proved that providing local players can secure experience against better-class players the standard in Southland would soon be as high as in most of the districts in' New Zealand.