World
Championships: New Zealand’s First Official Team Competes
There have been twelve World Championships since the NZ Table Tennis Association was
formed in 1934. It’s taken twenty years but this year New Zealand finally sent its
first officially selected team to compete in them. There had been unofficial (and highly
publicised) NZ representation in 1948, 1950 and 1951 but this was “the real
thing”.
Like the previous years, it was to be an all-male representation. Despite strong evidence
that a women’s team might fare better internationally there was little support among
officialdom for giving them the chance.
Controversy had surrounded the selection of the team (refer 1953), but as the four players
and manager set sail for England on 21 January interest now focused on how well they would
perform. The championships were scheduled for 6 - 14 April in London.
The captain was Owen Jaine (28), selected for his vast experience and
consistent performance at top level since 1945. With him was reigning NZ Champion Bob
Jackson (22), who in 1950 had leapt straight to No 1 in the national rankings.
Completing the team were two 18 year olds – Murray Dunn and Garry
Frew, both selected for their potential although they too had chalked up some
spectacular results. The team manager was Mr HN (Norm) Ballinger.
L/R: R V Jackson, W O Jaine,
H N Ballinger, (seated - Manager)
G A J Frew, M L Dunn
Thrown to the Lions
Somewhat injudiciously, the team was scheduled to play an England B team within hours of
stepping ashore. They were “massacred” (as described in the English and NZ
press) by the unflattering margin of 10-0. But then came a crucial three week period of
intense physical and on-table training under the eye of Viktor Barna. Also in the squad
were the Rowe twins (popular visitors to New Zealand in 1953) and three Australian
players. It was a solid and very useful work-out and paid handsome dividends.
One more pre-championships international was played, against, of all places, Australia. It
was our first full “test match” with our Tasman neighbour and we had to cross
the world for it. Australia won 3-2, with Bob Jackson and Garry
Frew playing the singles and winning one each.
NZ Steps into the World Arena
The Championships were played at Wembley Stadium in cool conditions which slowed the
tables and the ball somewhat. New Zealand had to play a qualifying series and would only
progress to the Swaythling Cup teams contest if they finished either first or second in
their four team group. In a good showing against Finland, Saarland and Pakistan they were
unbeaten. Murray Dunn won all his singles (to the delight of the
selectors no doubt) and the team lost only four of their nineteen matches.
When the Swaythling Cup began the NZ men were not over-awed by the situation and at
various stages all four played the best they had ever played. The result was a team
performance as good as could be expected. They had two wins, against Switzerland and
Australia. They were well beaten by European power-houses Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Sweden,
Yugoslavia and Germany. A 1-5 loss to Ireland was more of a disappointment. The youthful Garry
Frew won New Zealand’s solitary match, beating a player NZ champion
Bob Jackson had lost to.
Murray Dunn registered New Zealand’s only win in the individual
events, against an Israeli player in round two after a round one bye. He then had the
‘honour” of bowing out in the next round to the eventual winner, Ichiro Ogimura
of Japan.
Victory in Scotland, Again
Following the world championships the team travelled to Scotland. An international was
played there which NZ won 7-3. But more gratifying was the performance of our players in
the individual events at the Scottish Open. Emulating John Crossley in
1950, Garry Frew excelled himself to win the men’s singles, beating
team-mate Owen Jaine in the final. This too would have delighted the
selectors. To top it off, Frew and Murray Dunn won the doubles.
In their final opportunity to perform as a team, the New Zealanders beat Ceylon (Sri
Lanka) 4-2 en route back to New Zealand.
Selections Justified
The selection of
Murray Dunn and
Garry Frew was based
largely on their potential and in 1953 the move was seen as a gamble. Neither had more
than a smattering of international experience (playing unbeatable world class players at
home), and now they were being thrust onto the biggest international stage imaginable. It
was hoped they were mature enough (Murray Dunn was still at school) and that they would
benefit in the longer term from the experience.
As it turned out, Garry Frew played as well as his older team mates and finished the tour
with a flourish by outplaying them all in the Scottish Open.
But the undeniable star of the team was Murray Dunn. In the team events he won thirteen
out of twenty singles while the others all hovered around or just below 50%. He won his
three singles in the defeats of Switzerland and Australia and, as already mentioned, was
unbeaten in the four qualifying contests. But by far his best performance was against
Yugoslavia’s No 1, Vilim Harangozo. Dunn faced the Yugoslav just days before he took
out the world men’s doubles title with compatriot Zarko Dolinar. Harangozo, two
metres tall (6’5”) and heavily built, had a world ranking of #12 going into the
championships and #10 afterwards. In his first singles against New Zealand he had beaten
Owen Jaine 21-11, 21-11. When Murray Dunn stepped up to play him, nobody gave the slightly
built fair-headed New Zealander a chance.
But Harangozo’s winning margin was a threadbare 11-21, 21-16, 22-20. Dunn’s
total domination of the first game, and his performance under pressure in the later
stages, amazed his team-mates and spectators alike. The match was undoubtedly the
highlight of New Zealand’s world championships.
Manager Well Satisfied
Team manager
Norm Ballinger concluded that all four team members had
returned as better players. “Their ball control, speed and defence have all
improved,” he said on his return to New Zealand on 4 June. “And they’re
playing with much more confidence.” He felt that, had they all struck top form
together, they could have been a threat to some of the strong European teams.
Ballinger concurred that Murray Dunn was easily New Zealand’s best-performed player,
followed by Garry Frew. He also considered Dunn and Frew the best doubles combination. Bob
Jackson was below his best overall but all four acknowledged that Viktor Barna’s
pre-event training regime had been of enormous benefit.
With this ground-breaking event in NZ table tennis history now over, Ballinger urged NZTTA
to give top priority to sending teams to the World Championships on a regular basis.
Error-Ridden Men’s Final at Worlds
According to observers and media reports, the final of the men’s singles at the World
Championships was a disappointment. It was the first final ever to be contested between
two players using sponge rubber bats – the weapon which had confounded all opposition
in the hands of Hiroji Satoh in 1952. By now the use of the bat was more widespread, with
twelve competitors from a variety of countries wielding it at this year’s
championships. The final, between Ichiro Ogimura (Japan) and Tage Flisberg (Sweden) was
error-ridden and, with the bats making no sound, the audience also seemed to prefer to
remain eerily quiet.
The sponge bats were a major talking point at these championships. While there were
(unsuccessful) attempts at the ITTF Annual Meeting to have them banned, there was also an
aura of excitement and mystique surrounding them. Bob Jackson and Murray
Dunn brought a range of sponge bats back to New Zealand, igniting interest in
this country.
Ogimura winning the men’s title and Japan taking out both team contests reminded the
world that the Japanese threat had not gone away. But there had been an interruption,
caused by a post-war treaty which prevented Japan from entering the host country (Romania)
for the 1953 championships.
To the delight of the New Zealanders (and the English home crowd), Rosalind and Diane Rowe
won the women’s doubles. The final was played on their 21st birthday.
Richard Bergmann Returns
Several months after the New Zealand team returned from the World Championships we
received, at short notice, an offer from former world champion Richard Bergmann
to make a week-long visit here in late September. Only Canterbury, Wellington and Hutt
Valley were able to make the necessary arrangements to host the visitor in the brief time
available. He played the best local players in those centres and demonstrated some of his
trick shots and novelty audience participation routines.
It was his second visit – he had toured here with Viktor Barna in 1949. Five years on
he was playing as well as ever and had now been ranked among the world’s top five
every year since 1936. And at this year’s world championships, aged 34, he reached
the semi-finals before losing to runner-up Tage Flisberg (a sponge bat player) in four
games.
Asked his opinion on sponge, he thought it increased the speed of the ball off the table
but caused the opposition only minimal timing errors. He considered it a novelty and
predicted that it would soon go out of favour.
Bergmann’s New Opportunity: Clubbing with the Globetrotters
After 18 years of top level competitive play and ten years of exhibition tours Richard
Bergmann had recently moved into a new arena – the American night club circuit.
Before coming here he had already done a six-week season at the world famous Bal Tabarin
Club in Paris but after New Zealand he was booked for a 24 week tour of the United States,
playing night club exhibitions with American star Richard Miles. They would be a support
act for the most famous sporting entertainers in the world - the Harlem Globetrotters
basketball troupe. As early as 1952 another American, Marty Reisman, had toured with the
“Trotters” and later there would be more tours with them for Bergmann. He became
one of the world’s few fully professional table tennis players.
All Eyes on Worlds Team at NZ Championships
Up until this year no New Zealander had ever returned from the World Championships and
gone on to win the New Zealand singles title in the same season. Russell Algie
had not done it in 1948 and six others have competed at world level since. Not one
triumphed at home after playing among the world’s best.
That, surely, was going to change this year. All four members of New Zealand’s first
officially selected team had returned from the Worlds as better players and when they
reunited for the NZ Championships in Wellington the general prediction was that one of
them must win.
Taking into account their form since returning from London, the seeding committee had
favoured title-holder Bob Jackson for top spot. He had won the North
Island Championships, beating Garry Frew and Owen Jaine,
but was humbled at the more recent Auckland Open by Garry Frew. Murray Dunn
was seeded second and Owen Jaine third. Frew’s less consistent form could only earn
him 7th seeding.
This left a clutch of players who narrowly missed selection breathing down
the necks of the World Championships team members, notably Neville Brightwell
(seeded 4th), John Armstrong (pictured) and John Crossley. Trevor
Flint would have been another bent on proving the selectors wrong but for
business reasons did not enter.
Women’s Singles More Predictable?
With Margaret Hoar winning the North Island Championships and Joyce
Williamson the South Islands, and with fresh memories of their relentless march
to the 1953 final, nobody had much doubt that this pair would meet again in this
year’s final. Who would win was a harder question. Hoar had outlasted Williamson in
1953. Williamson had won in 1951 and, foregoing the NZ Championships, performed
brilliantly in Australia in 1952, leaving Hoar an easier road to the NZ title.
A newspaper article previewing the championships summarised the event in one sentence:
“The women’s singles will almost certainly resolve itself into an MM Hoar / JM
Williamson final”. This terse prediction had been preceded by a 450 word analysis of
the men’s singles.
Confusing Results in Team Events
A win by unseeded Thyra McGregor over Joyce Williamson in the Wellington
/ Canterbury women’s team semi-final was the first sign that things might not go as
predicted. Another surprise result was Garry Frew losing to Hutt Valley’s Ron
Sandilands. Neville Brightwell issued a warning to all by only narrowly losing to
Murray Dunn 19-21, 20-22 when Canterbury played Wellington. And Dunn beat Bob Jackson in
the Wellington / Auckland men’s final.
Casualties and Near-Misses
5th seed John Armstrong was an early casualty in the men’s open singles, losing to Mike
Lindsay in the round of 16. Lindsay was one of several Auckland men playing with
a sponge bat which may or may not have been a factor but Armstrong had not been enjoying a
good season. Nonetheless the introduction of sponge added yet another unpredictable
dimension to the championships.
Murray Dunn could have fallen even earlier when he too had met a sponge player,
Malcolm Lang. Dunn, having this season chosen not to play with the sponge bat he
brought back from England, lost the first two games 19-21, 20-22 and only recovered to win
the last three (comfortably) by resorting to slower pushing tactics.
Garry Frew avenged his loss to Ron Sandilands three straight before losing a spectacular
quarter-final to a now fired-up Murray Dunn. 
Another quarter-final saw
Neville Brightwell dispose of John Crossley in five while Owen Jaine had a marathon and
exceedingly narrow win over 8th seed Brian Williamson (pictured).
Bob Jackson beat Mike Lindsay in four (after dropping the third 12-21) in a
quarter-final which had the distinction of being the first “sponge versus
sponge” match ever played at the NZ Championships.
Predictions Confounded - Women’s Champion Beaten
If title-holder Margaret Hoar was ever going to be beaten before reaching the women’s
singles final it was fitting that it should be at the hands of June Magorian
(nee Leathley). That is exactly what happened. They met in the quarter-finals and Magorian
won 21-23, 25-23, 22-20, 21-11. Hoar’s defence was more fragile than usual but she
played with determination until Magorian’s lucky succession of net cords in the final
game put the result beyond doubt. It was nonetheless a fine win by Magorian, much deserved
and overdue. She had been thwarted by Hoar in three finals since 1949 and was a
semi-finalist in 1953. She was seeded 5th but easily beat Canterbury’s Joan
Cox in the semi-final to book a place in the final.
Junior Giant Killer
Meanwhile in Joyce Williamson’s half of the draw an unknown North Taranaki 17 year
old named Thelma Keast began causing discomfort when she easily beat
Thyra McGregor. Although unseeded, McGregor had beaten Williamson in their team event and
was Wellington champion. Not satisfied, the hard-hitting junior then beat 6th seed Dorothy
Chapman in the round of 16 and was a good match for 4th seeded Charlotte
Savage in the quarter-final before losing in four. Keast’s impressive
performance earned her a ranking of #9 for the year.
Joyce Williamson, spared a show-down with Keast and untroubled by Savage, faced June
Magorian in the final. It was not a good match. Williamson’s forehand, which had been
so ferocious in 1951 (and also in 1952 in Australia and 1953 against Diane Rowe), often
deserted her completely in this match. Her handling of high balls was almost clumsy and to
stay in the game she had to rely largely on her defence, which had markedly improved.
There were signs of better form as the match began tilting her way and she won 14-21,
21-10, 21-19, 21-17. It was her second title and Magorian’s fourth defeat in four
finals.
Top Men Meet
Neville Brightwell managed to win the first game against Murray Dunn but Dunn was in
command thereafter. Bob Jackson was untroubled to beat Owen Jaine in the other semi-final.
In the Jackson / Dunn final, experience gingerly triumphed over nervous and occasionally
impetuous youth. The scores suggest an exciting match (24-22, 21-17, 25-23) but it
wasn’t. It was error-ridden and, apart from isolated patches, rather dull. There was
pressure on both players. With Jackson’s status as top seed and reigning champion and
Dunn the pre-event favourite since beating Jackson in the teams, the audience of 700 was
expecting a classic encounter between two top-shelf New Zealand players just back from the
World Championships.
The sponge bat in Jackson’s hand could have been a factor but both finalists showed
signs of nerves and often resorted to pushing. Memory of his worrying encounter with
Malcolm Lang’s sponge bat would have loomed in Dunn’s mind while Jackson would
not have forgotten the spectacle of Dunn hammering it out with Harangozo in London.
But Bob Jackson went on to win and therefore became the first New Zealander to compete at
a World Championship and return home to claim the NZ singles title that same year. He was
also the first to win with a sponge bat.
Sponge had become the talking point of the year, more especially in the North Island. An
article further on takes a look at its history in New Zealand prior to 1954.
