New International Event Launched in NZ – Oceania Championships

New Zealand had the privilege of hosting the first Oceania Championships. The Oceania TT Federation was the last of six continental federations to form and affiliate to ITTF (the application was approved in 1977) and its officials made immediate plans for regular championships. The original decision was to hold them every four years but after 1986 they became a two-yearly event.

The inaugural championships were held on 8-14 October in the newly extended Auckland Association stadium. The stadium had been enlarged to twice its original size and could now accommodate 20 tables with increased playing space around each table. They were excellent conditions and met international standards.

Despite the best efforts of the four Island nations (Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Tahiti and Fiji) that joined Australia and New Zealand in the teams events, inevitably the men’s and women’s finals were both contested between the well-established trans-Tasman rivals. Sadly, the men suffered one of the most humiliating losses they’ve ever been dealt with by Australia – a 9-0 drubbing with every match lost two straight. James Morris put up the most resistance with a score of 21-19 in each of his three matches. In comparison, Richard Lee and Robert Blair were well off the pace. No doubles matches were played. The Australian team was Paul Pinkewich, Steve Knapp and Robbie Javor.

The women’s contests comprised only five matches – four singles and one doubles. New Zealand fielded Shelley Palmer and Angela Brackenridge in the singles and Jan Morris with Brackenridge in the doubles. It was Palmer’s first outing in New Zealand colours but well merited after her 1977 North Island singles title and her herculean effort at the just-completed NZ Championships (refer later article). She first attained a national ranking in 1976 (No 6), rose to No 3 in 1977 and No 1 in 1978.

Our women made up for the men’s loss to Australia with a decisive 4-1 win. The attacking game of the in-form NZ singles players was particularly sharp. Only Christine Little of Australia made a small dent in New Zealand’s victory with a two straight win over Brackenridge. Denise Millikan and Barbara Kearney completed the Australian team with Kearney pairing with Little for the doubles only.

The two team results were a reversal of New Zealand’s previous matches against Australia in 1977. At the Commonwealth Championships the women lost 2-3 and against the touring Australian men’s team NZ won 4-1. NZ did not play Australia in the 1977 Commonwealth men’s team competition.

Battles Royal in Individual Events

NZ’s major triumph in the individual events was the women’s doubles. Top Australian pair Christine Little and Barbara Kearney were eliminated in the semi-final by Shelley Palmer (right in picture) and Debbie Looms. It was a very good win. Looms is NZ No 4 and the Marlborough star fresh out of junior ranks. The other semi-final was won by New Zealand’s well-established pairing of Jan Morris and Angela Brackenridge (left in picture) who beat Australian Denise Millikan paired with New Zealand’s Yvonne Eyre (nee Fogarty), back into international play after a two-year recess. In an all-New Zealand final Morris and Brackenridge beat Palmer and Looms for the inaugural Oceania Women’s Doubles Championship.

New Zealand also made an early impression in the women’s singles. Emulating Yvonne Eyre, Anne Noble (nee Stonestreet) was on an international comeback trail as well, temporarily after retiring last year. Her four game win over top seed Barbara Kearney sent her rocketing into contention for the singles title. Eventually it was another New Zealander, Jan Morris, who put an end to her chances in the semi-final. Shelley Palmer had bowed out in the quarter-finals to Australia’s Denise Millikan and Angela Brackenridge was another of Anne Noble’s victims, also in the quarters. So the full weight of New Zealand support swung behind Jan Morris in the final against Christine Little. Her chances were reasonable as Little had lost a singles (to Shelley Palmer) in the teams contest. But sadly it was a four-game win to the Australian, 21-7, 21-18, 16-21, 21-19.

In the men’s singles an Australian whitewash was avoided by the determination of an in-form James Morris. No other New Zealander survived the quarter-finals but Morris beat Australian Neil Ward three straight and proceeded to give the more experienced Robbie Javor the same treatment in the semi-final. The other semi was probably the match of the tournament – a brutal all-Australian encounter between Steve Knapp and Paul Pinkewich with the strong defence of Pinkewich surviving in five games. James Morris was no match for Pinkewich in the final, losing 12-21, 7-21, 12-21.

New Zealanders also reached the final in the other two events. Morris and Richard Lee disposed of Pinkewich and Ward in the men’s doubles semi-final but lost the final in five games (after winning the first two) to Knapp and Javor. And in the mixed doubles New Zealand came tantalisingly close to a second Oceania title when Graham Lassen and Yvonne Eyre lost to favourites Steve Knapp and Denise Millikan in a five game final: 17-21, 21-14, 21-14, 13-21, 16-21.

It was the first international tournament conducted in this country. The organising team was led by Keith Fraser and, while spectator support could have been better, the event was deemed very successful from a management point of view. Generous sponsorship was offered by the manufacturers of TSP and Nittaku balls.

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Selection Causes Furore

The NZ team for two international events (the inaugural 1978 Oceania Championships and the 1979 World Championships) was announced at the conclusion of the New Zealand Championships. The women’s team was Shelley Palmer, Angela Brackenridge and Jan Morris; the men’s James Morris, Richard Lee, Robert Blair and Graham Lassen. The women’s team was accepted without a murmur. The men’s aroused an unprecedented clamour of protest – eclipsing that caused by the omission of Trevor Flint and John Armstrong in 1954 and Ling Nan Ming in 1975.

The focus of this protest was the omission of 21 year old Kerry Palmer. He was NZ’s top junior in 1974 and moved straight into the senior rankings in 1975 at No 7. He maintained that ranking in 1976 and rose to No 3 last year, behind Morris and Lee but ahead of Blair and Lassen. Earlier this year he had travelled to Europe to broaden his international experience but despite that his 1978 tournament record in New Zealand was indifferent leading up to the NZ Championships for which he was seeded sixth. He then hit top form and blitzed the field to win the singles title, beating three of the selected players in the process. He was confident he had earned selection as did many observers. His final ranking for 1978 was No 4, behind Morris, Lee and Blair but still ahead of Lassen.

The protests were not only over his omission from the team, but equally over the process and the timing of the team announcement. For a start, the team had been selected before the final (between Palmer and Blair) had even been played. The announcement took place immediately after the final which gave Palmer just minutes to savour his NZ Championship title before learning of his non-selection. Further, nobody had taken him aside to forewarn him of the decision. Such was his disappointment that he had to be persuaded to participate in the presentation ceremony and with that came the final indignity – his prize was a set of travel bags. He walked away without even picking them up.

The protest was a concerted one – various individuals and clubs wrote letters to NZTTA or spoke out to the press, Kerry Palmer’s parents among them. Palmer’s home association, Auckland, also made a formal complaint to the NZTTA Executive Committee, who had approved the selections. The Executive acknowledged that the timing of the announcement was ill-chosen and wrote a letter of apology to Kerry Palmer’s parents conceding this.

There is no obligation for the selection panel to justify their selections, to include the reigning NZ champion, or to even select the best players. But with this incident valuable lessons were learned regarding decorum, courtesy and consideration of players’ feelings when announcing potentially controversial selections.

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New Events Give Juniors a Target

Two decisions implemented this year resulted in a huge boost to junior table tennis. The first was the addition of junior inter-association team events to the New Zealand Championships programme in both under 18 and under 14 age-categories. 48 teams competed in the first year. Competition for places in these teams inevitably lifted the standard at club and association level.

Then came the second decision – to enter New Zealand teams in the junior interstate competition at the Australian Championships. This created a further incentive for players selected in their Association teams: aspire to and work towards to national selection. It also boosted the entries at the North and South Island Championships as these were the main opportunities for juniors vying for national selection to impress the selectors. To meet the entry deadline the NZ team to visit Australia had to be selected prior to the NZ Championships.

Up until now singles and doubles titles at local and national level were all enthusiastic junior players had to aim for. In one year, that all changed.

First NZ Junior Team; Seniors Join in for Individuals

The first junior team ever to represent New Zealand overseas left for Australia on 14 September. The selected players were Stuart Armstrong, Malcolm Darroch, Malcolm Temperley, David Williment, Wendy Cuthbert (just turned 13) (pictured below right), Linda Dyer, Ruth Lee (pictured left) and Christine Young. Ron Menchi was the manager and Paul Escott the coach. The girls had a good win over Victoria (5-4) and also beat South Australia and Tasmania. They lost to New South Wales and Queensland and finished third. The boys finished fourth, beating Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.

Six senior New Zealand players joined the juniors to compete in the Australian Open individual events. Two of the juniors were among the giant-killers: Malcolm Darroch and Stuart Armstrong had a great win in the men’s doubles, toppling the fifth seeds and taking the fourth seeds to five games in the quarter-finals. Richard Lee put up NZ’s best performance. He was runner-up in the men’s doubles partnered by Jeff McCabe of Australia. They lost the final to Steve Knapp and Robbie Javor. Richard and Jeff had been runners-up in 1976 also.

The championships were held in Melbourne.

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Brother and Sister win NZ Men’s and Women’s Singles Titles

For the first time, a brother and sister won the respective singles titles at the New Zealand Championships, played in Napier.

Mention of Kerry Palmer’s upset win in the men’s singles has been made in an earlier article. He signaled his intentions by beating Richard Lee in the quarter-finals, maintained the momentum by eliminating Graham Lassen in the semi-finals before facing Robert Blair, who had beaten 1976 champion James Morris in the other semi. Kerry Palmer won the final three straight. He was seeded 6th.

Shelley Palmer, Kerry’s 19 year old sister, was seeded 3rd in the women’s singles. Her opponent in the final was 18 year old 4th seed Debbie Looms whom she beat in four games. It was an excellent overall performance by Palmer and established her firmly among NZ’s top women players for several years. The two young finalists had earlier dealt with the top two seeds Jan Morris and Angela Brackenridge in the semi-finals, both in five games with Looms’ win over top seed Morris particularly impressive.

Yvonne Eyre, partnered by Graham Lassen, won the mixed doubles after a good three-straight win over top seeds Robert Blair and Angela Brackenridge in the semi-final and a four game win over veteran Alan Tomlinson and singles champion Shelley Palmer in the final. It turned out to be Yvonne Eyre’s last NZ title. Her first, as 17 year old Yvonne Fogarty, was the 1969 women’s singles.

Juniors Share the Limelight

Rubbing shoulders with NZ representatives in the North v South interisland contest was 12 year old Wendy Cuthbert. She turned 13 during NZ Championships week but was the youngest player ever to represent the South Island.

At the age of 14, Barry Griffiths was the only junior to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s singles.

The inaugural singles winners of the newly introduced under 12 events were Gary Traill and Rachel Lee.

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First Paid Coaching Position Created

The status of coaching in New Zealand had received a boost in 1970 when the NZTTA Executive agreed, after some reluctance, to appoint a National Director of Coaching. It was a co-ordinating as well as hands-on role and largely voluntary although all travelling expenses were met.

A further advance occurred this year when funding was secured from the Ministry of Recreation and Sport to establish the position of assistant to the national director and pay the successful applicant a full-time salary on a three-month trial basis. Although the position was advertised overseas the appointment went to a New Zealander, 23 year old Richard Lee.

While Richard was renowned as one of New Zealand’s top players and still at the top of his game, his coaching talent was less well-known. But his skills in this area had been building for several years both in New Zealand and overseas, mainly Australia and England. In addition, he had trained with some of the world’s best coaches in China and had learned much by observing their methods. He had shown a remarkable ability to analyse the technical intricacies of the game from an early age, having first attended World Championships when only 16.

The contract ran from May to July and all the work was done in the lower South Island. His duties were four-fold: training coaches, working with top provincial players, working in clubs and demonstrating the sport in schools. Reports on his activities were exceedingly favourable with his presentations not only educational but also very entertaining.

He was invited to renew his contract but declined as full-time coaching was beginning to intrude on his own training regime as a top player.

The exercise proved a useful forerunner to the eventual appointment of a full-time salaried Director of Coaching recruited from overseas.

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Four Chinese Coaches Visit NZ

About six weeks after Richard Lee’s contract expired (refer above article) three NZ centres had the good fortune to host a team of four coaches from China including their top junior coach (Li Te-yang) and a member of the delegation to visit New Zealand in 1972 (Chou Lan-sun). All four had at some point represented China overseas as players.

The opportunity arose as the coaches were en route to Australia as part of an Australia/China inter-governmental cultural exchange. They were here for ten days and conducted workshops in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, working with top players, juniors and local coaches.

Head Australian Coach Also Drops By

To round out an eventful year on the coaching front, an advanced coaching seminar was held in Lower Hutt in August attended by Association coaches from all over New Zealand. Principal guest speaker was Eric Coster, Australia’s Director of Coaching, whose presentation included practical demonstrations. Other speakers were Brien Dwyer, Trevor Flint and Richard Lee.

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Alan Tomlinson Sets New Ranking Record

By now aged in his mid-forties, Alan Tomlinson re-entered the men’s ranking list (at No 10) after solid performances at provincial tournaments, notably the Waitemata Open where he reached the final. He was unlucky to have missed ranking in 1977, having won a major open tournament and reached the Auckland Open final. In attaining a ranking this year he widened the period from his first to last top ten appearance to a remarkable twenty-five years (1954 – 1978). This well and truly eclipsed the previous record of 21 years held by John Armstrong – in fact Tomlinson had already bettered Armstrong’s mark in 1975. In 1979 Norma Houlihan would equal Armstrong’s 21 years from first to last ranking although she had breaks from the game and was ranked only 11 times within that period.

Tomlinson was ranked on a total of 23 occasions, including an unbroken spell of 22 years from 1954 to 1975. The only player destined to surpass this in NZTTA’s first 75 years was Peter Jackson - ranked 25 times in 26 years (1981 – 2006).

Eclipsing everyone in overall time span was Yvonne Fogarty. She was ranked 18 times spread over 33 years: a ten year unbroken run (1966-1975), a four year run (1977-1980) and four later appearances: 1982, 1983, 1992 and 1998.

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Japanese Visit Boosts Auckland Open

The participation of seven Japanese players, all from the Mie Association and including the Japanese No 6, created huge interest in the Auckland Open and boosted the entry to a record 255 players.

The visitors, all male except for two junior girls, spent five days in the northern North Island and their itinerary included matches against four association teams. They also beat a New Zealand selection of James Morris, Richard Lee and Robert Blair 7-2, with Lee and Blair picking up one singles each.

An excellent relationship has existed between the Auckland/Northland Associations and the Japanese Mie Prefecture since the early 1970s. A party from Mie participated in the Auckland 50th Jubilee celebrations in 1974.

It is a reciprocal relationship and a large group of Auckland and Northland junior players were invited to visit Japan for coaching at the end of 1978 and early 1979. Auckland coach Brien Dwyer was appointed leader of the NZ group.

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200 Watch National Schools Final

Whangarei’s well-established reputation for supporting table tennis events in droves was given another boost when 200 spectators flooded into a local school hall to watch the final of the New Zealand Secondary Schools Teams Tournament. The local team, Whangarei Boys’ High School, had won the final last year, playing away at Dunedin. This year the same three players were defending their title on home territory. And the crowd was enthusiastic, if also a little on edge - as were the players: John Dufty, Murray Batger and Michael Steele.

They need not have worried. The three boys played well and beat the South Island Champions, Christchurch Boys’ High School, 9-1.

The local MP attended the event and presented the trophy.

Air New Zealand has replaced NAC as the sponsor of the final.

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Sponsorship for National Club Teams Tournament Ends

The Rothmans Champion Club Teams Tournament has been played annually since 1973 but regrettably 1978 was its final year. The Rothmans Sports and Cultural Foundation provided sponsorship throughout, and prior to 1973 had also supported several tours of NZ by overseas teams. It has been a lengthy and fruitful relationship beginning in 1967 but the sponsorship was due for review in June, 1978 and the signs were that Rothmans would be diverting their support to other organisations from that date. That is indeed what happened and NZTTA and Rothmans parted on good terms.

For the record, the Champion Club Teams have been Kilbirnie RSA, Wellington (1973); Point Chevalier, Auckland (1974); Waterloo, Hutt Valley (1975); Mount Albert, Auckland (1976); Roskill, Auckland (1977); Manurewa, Franklin (1978).

All winners received cash prizes and the Rothmans Shield. Smaller cash prizes were paid to all finalists.

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Banner Headlines in Fiji For Northland Visit

Newspaper and radio publicity at a level rarely seen for even the most important table tennis events in New Zealand greeted a party of Northland juniors, accompanied by Garry Frew and Neti Traill and several other adult supporters, when they visited Suva, Fiji, in May.

Huge headlines and large photos in the Fiji Sun newspaper accompanied reports on the visit in general and on the main event, a multi-sport fundraiser including table tennis exhibitions played in front of an exuberant crowd of 600. Garry, Neti, top junior John Dufty and leading Fijian players played a series of singles and doubles. A singles between Garry and Neti was the feature match.

The Northland juniors (aged 9-15) played two team contests against local senior players, winning both by a wide margin. There were coaching sessions conducted by Garry and Neti and the entire Northland party entered the Suva Open Championships.

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Two Associations Go Into Recess

Thames Valley and South Taranaki, due mainly to a lack of available administrators, lapsed into recess. On the positive side both former Associations retained a thriving membership in at least one club. The Thames club (membership 45) was permitted to affiliate directly to NZTTA for a nominal fee, enabling their members to engage with other clubs and enter open tournaments. In South Taranaki the strong Stratford club affiliated to North Taranaki and remained active.

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