8. May/Jun 1981
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TABLE TENNIS NEWS Published each month, October to May inclusive. Postal subscriptions £4.00 for eight issues (U.K.), Europe (including Eire) ( £4.50, Overseas Airmail £16.50. 16th WORLD Advertisements: Mrs. Christine Wilkes, English Table Tennis Association, 21 Claremont, Hastings. East Sussex TN34 1HA. Tel. Hastings (0424) 433121. CHAMPIONSHIPS Subscriptions: Miss B. Davies, English Table Tennis Association, 21 Claremont, SPENS 81 Hastings, East Sussex TN34 1HA. Tel. Hastings (0424) 433121. Distribution: Mrs. E. Doreen Yates, 43 ROLL OF HONOUR Knowsley Road, Smithills, Bolton, Lanes. BL1 6JH. Tel. Bolton 42223. SWAYTHLING CUP MARCEL CORBILLON CUP (Mien's Team) (Women's Team) Editorial: Mr. George R. Yates, 43 Knowsley Road, Smithills, Bolton, Lanes. CHINA CHINA BL1 6JH. Tel. Bolton 42223 (H), 061-228 2141 Ext. 2'698 (B). ST. BRIDE VASE G. GEIST PRIZE (Men's Singles) (Women's Singles) GUO YUEHUA TONG LING STATUS QUO (China) (China) IRAN CUP W. J. POPE TROPHY It was not only on the table that the (Men's DOUbles) (Women's Double's) People's Republic of China had thelir LI ZHENSHI and ZHANG DEYING and triumphs in Novi' Sad but the same can CAl ZHE'NHUA CAO YANHUA be said for their o·pposition to a Rule (China) (China) amendment put forward by Czecho slovakila, Federal Germany and Sweden HEYDUSEK PRIZE l at the Biennial General Meeting of the (Mixed Doubles ) International Table Tennis Federation. XIE SAIKE and HUANG JUNQUN The· pro·posal was "The two slides of (China) the racket blade, whether used for strik ing the ball or not, shall be of clearly different ground colour". Europe was in favour, practically to a country, but not BLANKET CO VERA IE - CHINESE STYLE so China, the A'sians as a whole, and the third world countries. by GEORGE R. YATES This motion required a 75% majority to The strength in depth of the People's C;hina had it three to one at t.he semi Republic of China was never more em final stage with Tong Ling the eventual be carried but, in the event was lost, 84 phasised than in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia over winner from Cao Yanhua over five games votes being cast lin favour and 66 the period April 14-26, 19181 when, in addi after the latter had edged home 25-23 in against. tion to winning both the Swaything and the fift.h in her penultimate set against Lee Marcel Corbillon Cups, in t,he team events, Soo Ja of Sout,h Korea! Although the interests of three English Chinese players contested all five individual In the men's doubles the defending cham players - JiU Hammersley, John Hilton finals with no other country represented. pions Anton Stipancic and Surbek of the and Douggie J·ohnson, were in jeopardy, Indeed such was the supe·riority of the host nation released their grip on the Iran England's delegates voted iin favour of Chinese women that in the Marcel Corbillon Cup when going under to Li Zhenshi and the change, seeing it as a measure that Cup event, in nine matches, their set Cai Zhenhua, the eventual winners. Like analysis was an astounding 27 -0 which in wise Jacques Secretin and Pat,rick Birocheau would be both fair to players and con cluded two 3-0 wins over South Korea and of France fell victims to China's Xie Saike ducive to the improvement of table similar successes over the Soviet Union and Guo Yenhua to conclude European tennis as a s.pectacle. the European champions - Czechoslovakia, interest., Hungary and Japan. Nor was their any bett·er involvement in Such was the mandate given to Not quite so emphatic but equally the women's doubles, than in the singles, by England's two delegates, Messrs Yates devastating were the nine wins obtained by member players of the European Union with and Shipley, having regard to the long the Chinese men who returned a set analy England's Jill Hammersley and Linda term benefits 'from a spectator p,oint of sis of 45-6, Sweden (3), Japan (1) and, in Jarvis, Russia's Iolanta Daniliavichute and the final, Hungary (2) obtaining the scant Anita Zakharian, Belgium's Barbara vi'ew and as one step towards eventual Lippens and Nat·halie Higuet, Ann-Christin standardisation. rewards for honest endeavour. Hellman and Marie Lindblad of Sweden, Having failed twice, to Japan's Mitsuro Popova and Narine Antonian of Russia, Kohno, in Birmingham, and to Seiji Q'no Judit Magos and Edit Urban of Hungary and when injured in Pyongyang, Guo Yuehua Eva Ferenczi and Olga Nemes of Rumania came up trumps at the third attempt ill all falling in the round before the quarters. ENGLISH TAB·LE TENNIS ASSOCIATION winning t.he men's singles with a final victory over his compatriot Cai Zhenhua. Again it was the players from Asia who Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. held all the aces the final trump card being But with thrice defeated finalist, Li Fujung, played by Zhang Deying, who retained her President: M. Goldstein, O.B.E. as his non-playing captain, to predict the winner from the Chinese camp was in no half share of the title, but this time with a Life Vice-President: Hon. Ivor Montagu. way difficult. new partner in Cao Yanhua. Chairman: T. Blunn. And to complete the total domination Xie To their credit two Europeans, in t.he Saike and Huang Junqun of China had a Deputy Chairman: G. R. Yates. persons of Sweden's Stellan Bengtsson and Dragutin Surbek of Yugoslavia, did reach final victory over their compatriots, Chen H~n. Treasurer: A. Drapkin. Xinhua and T'ong Ling, in the mixed i.n the semi-final stage of the men's singles. w'hich Yugoslavia's Surbek and Branka General Secretary: A. W. Shipley. But one has to look back to the last sixteen in the counterpart women's event to glimpse Batinic survived up to the semis losing to Management Committee: the last of the Europeans - Bettine Vriese the defeated finalists,. (Vice::"Chairmen) koop of the Netherlands and Valentina All in all a far from satisfactory Spens 81 C. J. Clemett, R. J. Crayden, Popova - the European champion - from for the Europeans unless one takes in the A. E. Ransome, N. K. Reeve. t·he Soviet Union. consolation events won by Rosario TroHo of Page 2 AWRY But from then on matters went somewhat awry with France winning the next four sets off the reel Birocheau beating bot,h Hilton and Day, Secretin blotting the copy book of Douglas and Martin giving Hilton the runaround. No towel came from the English corner and rightly so as Hilton, in his best Berne bearlike manner, wrested the initiative fronl Secretin and Douglas went through Biroeheau like the proverbial knive through butter. All then rested on the shoulders of Day, the pride of Soham who, try as he did, could not deny Martin nor t,he French their Victory. A groin strain put Day on the bench for the subsequent meeting with Japan, another English casualty being Bob Potton Who, in trying to emulate the deeds of West, Ham's Trevor Brooking in a kickabout with the China's all-conquering squads in Novi Sad. local talent on the forecourt of the stadium, Men: Front row (1 to r) - Xie Saike, Guo Yuehua, Shi Zhihao and Li Zhenshi. sprained his ankle. Back row (1 to r) - Cai Zhenhua, Wang Huiyuan, Huang Liang, Lu Yaohua Douggie Johnson then had to play and and Chen XiIlhua. well he did in his opening encounter with Norio Takashima, taking t,he ace Japanese defender to three. before going under. Douglas, in magnificent style, registered yet another treble but only Hilton could add to it with a solo success against the then world champion Ono, this in t,he penulti mate set which equated the scoreline at 4-4. Johnson then found out what world class table tennis was all about when given the hiding of his life by Hiroyuki Abe, the best of the Japanese, to the tune of 8 and 6! The same English team lined up for the meeting with China whose Guo Yuehua (1), Wang Huiyuan '(2) and Xie Saike (2) polished us off 5-0 with not one of the five sets needing a deciding game although Hilton, against Guo, and Johnson against Wang, achieved "deuces" in one game. This same E,nglish trio, in like manner, cOlnfortably disposed of Indonesia in their final first stage match 5-0 to finish in third place with a target in the 15 to 8 bracket Women: Front row (1 to r) - Yan Guili, Zhang Deying, Geng Lijuan, Liu Yang the first obstacle being jumped 5-2 against and Huang Junqun. Back row (1 to r) - Bu Qijun, Shen Jianping, Tong Ling, Poland whose Kucharski had the distinctIon Qi Baoxiang and Cao Yanhua. of thumping Douglas off the table in remarkable fashion (7 ---and 10) having Italy (men) and by Vyona Shah of India begun the match by beating Hilton (13, 14), initially beat,en Johnson. (women). But then there were no Chinese the European champion then suffering a Douglas was successful in his other two participating. second revers1e, to Wosik, who won -20, 21 and 13,and Lieck had the best of a 3-game MEN'S TEAM EVENT encounter with Day. But then Douglas com Biggest shock in the first stage Category 1 pleted his treble and Hilton won when it Group B matches was t,he position Hungary mattered by getting home 14 in the third found themselves in when t,railing 1-4 to against a tiring Lieck.