TABLE TENNIS NEWS Published each month, October to May in­ clusive. Postal subscriptions £2.75 for eight issues. ON THE Overseas airmail £4.50. Advertisements: Mrs. Christine Wilkes, English Table Tennis Association, 21 Claremont, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 IRA, 'Phone: Hastings (0424) 433121. Subscriptions: Mrs. Bessie Clark. English Table INTERNATIONAl Tennis Association, 21 Claremont. Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 IHA. 'Phone: Hastings (0424) 433121. Distribution: Mrs. E. Doreen Yates, 43 Knowsley Road, Smithills, Bolton, Lanes. BLI 6JH. 'Phone: Bolton 42223. fRONT Editorial: George R. Yates, 43 Knowsley Road, Snlithills, Bolton, Lanes. BLI 6JH. 'Phone: Bolton by THE EDITOR 42223 (h); 061-228 2141, Ext. 2698 (b). CZECHS HANG ON beating Sweden 6-1 in Paris. took over the third In Pribram on Feb. 6, Czechoslovakia were position. Sweden, again without Stellan Bengtsson, exceedingly hard-pressed to preserve their unbeaten could only manage one win and that in the mixed BEST record when, after the sixth set, they were tying doubles with Ulf Thorsell and Eva Stromvall beat­ 3-3 with Federal Germany. Nor did it stop there ing the reigning world champions Jacques Secretin for in that final nerve-gripping set Josef Dvoracek and Claude Bergeret. INTERESTS and Peter Stellwag stood one game-all before Scores:­ Dvoracek got home in the third to keep his P. Birocheau bt M. Appelgren 11, 17; Much furore has been created by the country's record intact in the Super Division of J. Secretin bt U. Thorsell 12, 12; introduction of the Global National the European League. C. Bergeret bt A-C. Hellman -16, 13, 16; Matters went a little awry for the Czechs when, Birocheau/Secretin bt L. Franklin/Thorsell 14, 20' £2,000 tournament by Barry Meisel and in the second set, Engelbert Huging got the better Secretin/Bergeret lost to Thorsell/E. Stromvall ' Danny Kinnard on behalf of Global Table of Dvoracek and the "pocket battleship" Ursula -17, -20; Hirschmuller was equally convincing in beating Birocheau bt Thorsell 19, 13; Tennis Promotions Limited. Ilona Uhlikova. Huging came again in the penulti­ Secretin bt Appelgren -17, 8, 9. mate set equating the match score with a splendid In Kaunas, the Soviet Union were beaten 4-3 by Whatever the outcome of this "dream victory over Milan Orlowski. Yugoslavia whose battle-hardened Dragutin Surbek Individual scores:­ shook off the punitive challenge of both Valerij come true" spectacular at Greenwich M. Orlowski bt P. Stellwag 13, 17; Shevchenko and Igor Solopov and, in partnership Baths, a top cash prize of £1 ,000 for the J. Dvoracek lost to E. Huging -18, -18; with Zoran Kalinic, accounted for Shevchenko and I. Uhlikova lost to U. Hirschmuller -11, -17; Mironas Kreeris. The fourth Yugoslav win came open singles, incorporating both men Orlowski/J. Pansky bt J. Leiss/Stellwag 14, 15; from Kalinic who beat Solopov in the opening set. Orlowski/Uhlikova bt Leiss/Hirschmuller 17, 10; And now nothing short of a miracle can save and women, constitutes quite a large Orlowski lost to Huging -13, -12; the Russians from being replaced by Poland in slice of "bread". Dvoracek bt Stellwag -13, 19,15. next season's Super Division line-up. Second-placed Hungary kept themselves in the Scores:­ And it was this element which led an hunt with a 5-2 win over England at Belper (as I. Solopov lost to Z. Kalinic -7, -11; reported elsewhere) and France, as a result of V. Shevchenko lost to D. Surbek -9, -11; apprehensive National Council to permit V. Popova bt G. Perkucin -18, 18, 14; the E.T'.T.A. membership at large to M. Kreeris/Shevchenko lost to Kalinic/Surbek -16, 17, -14; participate in the tournament and grant Shevchenko/Popova bt Kalinic/Perkucin 13, 18; Solopov lost to Surbek -11, -16; blanket permission for members to Shevchenko bt Kalinic 16, 15. accept the cash prizes listed for the In Division 1 Poland continued their unbroken run and their 6-1 win over Italy earned them the three separate category events. championship and promotion to next season's Super Division. It was only in the final set, in As to whether the enterprise is one Warsaw, that Italy were given a look in when akin to that of Ke'rry Packer's World Giovanni Bisi beat Leszek Kucharski. Scores:­ Series Cricket remains ponderable. S. Fraczyk bt G. Bisi 7, 15; L. Kucharski bt M. Constantini 13, -19, 19; But the hope is expressed that should J. Szatko bt S. Milic 19, 17; A. Grubba/Kucharski bt Bisi/Constantini 13, 13; the tournament ,prove successful and Kucharski/Szatko bt Bisi/Milic 19, 10; lead to others, perhaps more ambitious Fraczyk bt Constantini 17, 18; Kucharski lost to Bisi 12, -18, -13. still, then like the Norwich Union Grand Ireland (as reported elsewhere) were beaten 4-3 Prix, close co-operation with the govern­ by Greece in Athens and they, like the Soviet Union, would appear to have set themselves an ing bodies would be in the best interests impossible task for they are now committed to of all parties concerned. beating Bulgaria in Belfast to save themselves from relegation. Austria brought off a smart 6-1 win over Luxem­ bourg and the news of that success was ill- received ENGLISH TABLE TENNIS ASSOCIATION in the Emerald Isle. But there it was, the only Patron: Her Majesty the Queen. home success being recorded by Andre Hartmann President: M. Goldstein, O.B.E. and Carine Risch in the mixed over Heinz Schluter Life Vice-Pr'esident: Hon. Ivor Montagu. and Brigitte Gropper. Chairman: T. Blunn. Scores:­ Deputy Chairman: G. R. Yates. G. Stebens lost to H. Schluter -10, -18; Hon. Treasurer: M. S. Greatrex. C. Putz lost to F. Waldhausl 18, -17, -17; General Secretary: A. W. Shipley. C. Risch lost to B. Gropper 20, -22, -18; Management Committee: A. Hartmann/Putz lost to Schluter/Waldhausl (Vice-Chairmen) Josef Dvoracek of Czechoslovakia - the saviour -18, 18, -15; C. J. Clemett, R. J. Crayden, A. E. Ransome, of his country against Federal Germany with a Hartmann/Risch bt Schluter/Gropper 14, -15, 14; N. K. Reeve and E. G. White. match winning success against Peter Stellwag. Stebens lost to Waldhausl -13, -21; Photo by Don Morley, Morden, Surrey. Putz lost to Schulter 15, -19, -18. Page 2 Bulgaria, in Sofia, took the Netherlands apart I.T.T.F.'s Classification Comnlittee under the The newcomers to the men's list are otherwise in winning 7-0 and this is the measure of the task Chairmanship of Dr. Gyorgy Lakatos of Hungary. Yo Yong Ho (Korea DPR), Janos Takacs facing the Irish in Belfast on March 8. (Hungary), Yun Chol (Korea DPR), Josef Scores in Sofia were:­ Dvoracek (Czechoslovakia), Jindrich Pansky I. Stojanov bt A. Vlieg 17, -19, 13; (Czechoslovakia), Valerij Shevchenko (USSR) and S. Stefanov bt N.v. Slobbe 20, 18; Anton Stipancic (Yugoslavia). D. Gergelcheva bt S. de Kruiff -17, 10, 17; England's Desmond Douglas, previously at joint Stefanov/Stojanov bt Slobbe/Vlieg 14, 17; No. 7 with Milan Orlowski of Czechoslovakia is Stojanov/ Gergelcheva bt Vlieg/de Kruiff now numbered eight with Orlowski at No.7. But, -19, 10, 17; in the women's list, Jill Hammersley, previously at Stojanov bt Slobbe 14, 16; No.8, has been lifted two places to No.6 being Stefanov bt Vlieg 17, -17, 9. the top European behind four Chinese and the The IDivision 2 match between Scotland and No.1, remaining, Pak Yung Sun (Korea DPR). Turkey at Lasswade on Feb. 7 decided the cham­ Jill shares the No. 6 position with the reigning pionship with Turkey claiming the title and European champion, Judit Magos of Hungary. promotion with a 6-1 win that sent Scotland down The revised rankings (previous placings in to Division 3 next term. brackets) are:­ Scotland got off to a flyer when Richard Yule Men: beat Oktay Cimen but that was the sum total 1. Guo Yuehua (CRN) (2) of home success as the Turks stormed the bastions 2. Liang Geliang (Liang Ke-liang) (CHN) (4) and the Sots were put to rout. 3. Gabor Gergely (HUN) (5) Scores:­ Tibor Klampar (HUN) (= 10) R. Yule bt O. Cimen -18,12,17; 5. Huang Liang (CHN) (3) K. Rodger lost to .V. Aleksandridis 19, -13, -17; 6. Li Zhenshi (CHN) (14) P. Fleming lost to K. Poyrazoglu -19, -16; 7. Milan Orlowski (CZE) (= 7) Rodger/Yule lost to Cimen/ Aleksandridis 8. Desmond Douglas (ENG) (= 7) -18, 15, -22; 9. Norio Takashima (JAP) (= 10) Yule/Fleming lost to Cimen/Poyrazoglu -17, -11; Shi Zhihao (CHN) (-) Yule lost to Aleksandridis -20, 16, -17; 11. Stellan Bengtsson (SWE) (12) Rodger lost to Cimen -16, -15. 12. Istvan Jonyer (HUN) (6) On the same night, in Helsinki, Finland nosed 13. Dragutin Surbek (YUG) (15) home 4-3 against Spain the individual scores 14. Jacques Secretin (FRA) (9) being:­ 15. Lu Qiwei (Lu Chi-wei) (CHN) (28) 16. Peter Stellwag (GFR) (36) J. Ikonen bt S. Moles 12, 17; 17. Yo Yong Ho (KDR) (-) J. Jokinen lost to J-M. Pales -15, -21; 18. S. Ono (JAP) (18) M. Grefberg bt M. Sanahuja -11,14,14; 19. Masahiro Maehara (JAP) (25) Okonen/Jokinen bt Moles/Pales 10, 13; 20. Janos Takacs (HUN) (-) Jokinen/Grefberg lost to Pales/Sanahuja -19, -16; 21. Jochen Leiss (GFR) (32) Ikonen bt Pales 4, 2; 22. Yun Chol (KDR) (-) Jokinen lost to Moles 26, -17, -17. Guo Yeuhua (Kuo Yao-hua) of the People's 23. Wilfried Lieck (GFR) (16) EUROPEAN LEAGUE TABLES Republic of China listed at No. 1 in the newly 24. Tibor Kreisz (HUN) (13) revised classification list of the I.T.T.F.