THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 26, 1989.
Wimbledon In Retrospect SPORTS Query-"How Good Really Is Riggs" PARADE
Miss
Stammers' Six
Love Games In Row
London,
July 16. I would can, as she did, beat in succession Mlle. not say that Wimbledon was dull; Jedrzejowska, Fru Sperling, and Miss
a large num- though I heard quite
Stammers and only lose seven games is no it. in the three matches--there characterise ber of people so Their reason for doing so was pro- gainsaying that she is a true champion bably that it offered a great contrast and far the best woman player of the to recent Wimbledons, first of all in day. not having among its competitors any- one who was personally a magnet, and secondly, because the type of game played by the winner of the men's singles (and by many others in that event) was. of quite a differ- ent type from that which winners of such as Perry, Vines, and Budge, have exhibited and, in deed. almost persuaded us to consider a sine qua non in a champion.
recent years,
A
To me, as interesting a question as any which Wimbledon might be expect- ed to answer is "How good, really, is Riggs?" I cannot answer it, be cause I am convinced that there is a great deal more in Rigg's game than he showed us during the Wimbledon fortnight. No proper estimate of man's game can be made until you have seen him fighting for his life; and Riggs certainly cannot be said to have had to fight for his, A sterner test for him will come later in the year when he will (probably) have to face Quist and Bromwich in singles in the Davis Cup; it is more upon how he fares against them that his place among the great players of the decade can be assessed than on what he at Wimbledon.
of
If
It was almost like a Lenglen pro- cession in the early twenties; and as good a performance as anything Mrs. Moody's. But Mrs. Moody, let it be remembered, won eight cham- pionships at Wimbledon: her supre mucy lasted over ten years a model of consistency which no player is ever likely to equal. Yet I think most people would rather watch Miss Mar- ble than Mrs. Moody; she is alt fire where Mrs. Moody was all ice. she does not quite give the spectator the sense of Inevitability that Mrs. Moody did, she can and does give the impression of overwhelming power, of a brain that can conceive a plan of campaign, and physical strength to produce the strokes to carry it to successful conclusion. She has no vul nerable point: it is only Miss Marble that can beat herself, and it is un- will more than very likely that she rarely oblige any opponent by doing
80.
THE STRENGTH OF U.S.A. As last year, it was America's year again. For the second year in succes- sion all five championships went across strength of the Atlantic; and the
BOXING
BRITISH BOARD RESIGNS FROM
WORLD COMMITTEE
TH
THERE is no doubt that the Hong Kong Football Association are an- xious to resume the Interport series with Shanghai and are trying to carry out the recommendation made by the retiring Council to send a team North, and invite Shanghai here during the Chinese New Year Holidays.
There are, however, some doubts, as to whether Hong Kong will be able to
team North send a worthwhile
in November in'view of the reluctance of Paris, July 7.-It is authoritatively the Chinese to participate in any In- learned here that the British Boxing terports in Shanghai, and the uncer- Board of Control have resigned from tainty that Service players would ob- the World Professional Boxing Cham-tain the permission to make the trip.
A small sub-committee consisting of pionships Committee, which was form- ed in April or last year to obtain Lieut. Man (Army), Comd. Gnr. H. S. and other (Civilians) and Mr. Walter. H. Chen agreement on the recognition of cham- Cooper (Navy), Capt. A. A. Fantham (Chinese) have been appointed to in- matters. pions, suspensions, rules,
The action of the International Box- quire, into the probable composition of boxing or the team to visit Shanghai in Novem-. ing Union, the principal ganisation of the Continent, in pub-ber. After their investigations Shang- -lishing last week-end its own list of hai will be advised regarding the prob-
European champions,
which noable composition of the visiting team. British boxers were mentioned, indi-If Shanghai then wishes, Hong Kong are willing to cated that they had not worked in con- Football Assication junction with the British Board in this send a team North in November
matter.
In
It is understood that the Committee will not recognise next Monday's fight between Len Harvey and Jock M'Avoy at the White City as being for
world title.Press Association.
URBINATI DEFEATS TINY BOSTOCK
the
boxer, on championship, defeated Tiny Bostock, the Leek (Staffordshire) points in a contest here last night.
Urbinati deservedly won on points received after taking more punishment in the twelfth round than he had
thereabouts.
*
or
INTERPORTS cost money, and the local Association feels it is only fair to let Shanghai know of the position regarding their team, so that they will be in a position to estimate its value from a "drawing" point of view.
Experience has taught us that ap- parently weak teams have done well in previous Interports, while strongly fa- voured sides have been badly beaten!
C. ter amateur, who has hit three H. PALMER, the young Worces- centuries so far this season, has been awarded his county cricket cap.
Assuming that neither the Chinese nor the Service players will be avail- the U.S.A. received a further exem-
able, the Colony should still be in a MAKINGS OF A CHAMPION: plification in that in only one case did
Rome, Sunday.-Urbinati, the Ital-position to field a decent side from the Yet there is no doubt that Riggs the same players win them that wonian holder of the European' fly-weight Civilian and Police teams.
E. Cooke and a champion, last year.
E. Smith, has the makings of though he is not, apparently, anxious two young Americans as new to us as to impress the gallery. So many loose Riggs himself, showed that they were and really bad shots come from his more than capable of holding their own racket that they are apt to blind us against anything that the home coun- to the fact that he seems invariably try or the whole of Europe could put capable of pulling out a winner when against them. And if the home coun- over he wants one. He is a curious try failed to win any of their cham-throughout the preceding eleven. Bos- rounds, and Urbinati piled up a hand- mixture of the careless and the com- pionships, its representatives figured tock was slow through the first five petent: he has an artistry almost in four of the five finals.
Miss Stammers, in reaching the lad-some margin of points. The first to equal in its ease and grace to Laurie
Teacher than admit the fairness of the verdict were Doherty's (and I can pay him
no les' singles. final, greater compliment), and а casual- she had ever done before, beating two Bostock and his manager, - ness, a laziness, which makes one rub of the American stars. Miss H. H. one's eyes and wonder if one is not Jacobs and Mrs. Fabyan before going watching a reincarnated "Babe" Nor- down to the third. F. H. D. Wilde, ton. His riddle has yet to be read: too, proved himself not only the best we must certainly hope to see him doubles player in this country but, in with us again next year, when the the opinion of more than one critic, problem of "placing" him may prove the best at Wimbledon. In reaching caster than it is at present.
two finals he showed that tennis is not so dead in this, country as some of our pessimists would have us believe. R. A. Shayes, too, made Riggs pull out his best game to beat him; besides, with J. S. Olliff, pulling two desperate matches out of the fire in the doubles; and Miss N. B. Brown astonished and delighted the Centre Court crowd on the final day when she played so well in the final stages of the mixed dou- bles.
The crowd of 15,000 were impartial and sportsmanlike. Bostock was rais- while they ed shoulder-high in the ring with Ur- binati after the match, were cheered and potographed.-Press Association...
Hammersley beat Mine. Mathieu and Mlle. Jedrzejowska on the first Thurs- day, and the other three the first three of her single against- Miss Brown in the first match of the following day, Twenty-four winning points running, on the Centre Court, will take a lot of beating by any player home or from overseas. The nearest to it that I can remember were the seventeen consecu- tive aces scored by Cochet against Tilden in their historic match in 1929, when the Frenchman won after losing the first two sets and being 1-5 down in the third perhaps the most sen
I ought, perhaps, to have consider- ed the play of Miss Alice Marble be- fore writing about Riggs; but some- how the men's championship still re tains its pre-eminence at Wimbledon in spite of the strides women's tennis has made into popular interest, and favour in the last twenty years. Miss Marble, as someone said, plays like a man. She is a true product of the sunshine and the fast courts of Cali- fornia, and in this Wimbledon fort Miss Stammers, too, made what I night she was certainly streets ahead am pretty sure must be a record for of all her rivals, winning all her five the Centre Court in winning six love matches without ever looking like los-games in succession, there. The first ing a set; and playing better and bet three of these were the last three insational match the "new" Wimbledon ter as she went on. A player who the match in which she and Mrs. has ever yet seen.
SMOKE
Genuine C. Ingenohl's
LA PERLA ORIENTE
DEL
GUARANAAD HAND MADE
C. INGENOPL'S CICAN
CIGARS
AN
scorers
N almost incredible incident hap- Cham- pened in the Open Golf pionship at St. Andrews when it was discovered that one of the keeping the score for two competitors did not know the rules and did not know how to score.
to
Players are no longer allowed keep each other's score and markers have to count each shot as played, with a stroke in a separate line along side the total hole figure to prevent cheating....
The scorer concerned was marking for Tom Collinge (Swinton Park) and of Ernest Cawsey (King's Norton).
Collinge's card was a mass ticks, denoting strokes neither player had taken, and Cawsey's was in an de- almost similar muddle.
At the fifth hole Collinge was bited with nine strokes, on the sixth with eight, and the seventh 10. His correct figures were five, four, four respectively. At the eighth, where he scored three, he was given eight, and at the ninth a six instead of a four... A spectator, Dr. Brown, of Chip- ping Norton, who had followed them round, took charge at the tenth and kept the score.
Officials asked the players and Dr. Brown to quote from memory, making out a new card. Dr. Brown was ask- ed to swear that the figures were true, And the official card-on an ordinary member a score card was accepted with the inscription: tified by Dr.
Brown
BUDGE
on
TORES
the title of BeDon blogra-
to Fred Perry "he'accord-