Because of the presence of the first Singapore squash team to tour New Zealand, the draw for this weekend’s Canterbury championships will be the strongest for several years.
The seven-strong team has been in this country since May 27. It meets the South Island at Timaru tomorrow night and Canterbury Districts at Rangiora on Monday. . Two members of the team, Stewart Ballard (the No. 2) and Jeremy Yeo (No. 3) are mere 16-year-olds and have already shown considerable promise. Remarkably, Yeo represented Singapore at the age of 14 in the prestigious Hashim Khan teams’ event at Karachi in 1978.
Ballard, who took part in the British amateur championship earlier this year, has already met one former Cantabrian on this tour. The youngster struck Rod Blank in the contest against Northland and lost narrowly (9-2, 9-3, 7-9, 6-9, 9-10) after winning the first two games and later holding his first match ball at 8-4 in the fifth.
The side’s No. 1 player is Zainal Abidin who is the present Singapore national champion. According to his profile, Abidin, aged 22, is “a very fast player and possesses tremendous stamina and retrieving ability.”
Peter Hill, who fills the No. 4 spot, is his country’s current national junior champion and, like Yeo and another team member, Ranjodh Singh (No. 4), represented Singapore in the 1978 Hashim Khan Trophy tournament.
Hill was the only successful member of the Singapore junior team which competed against the New Zealand juniors in Singapore in April. Hill beat Wayne Rowlands (a quarter-finalist in the North Island open last week-end) in a four-game match.
Ranjodh, a 22-year-old medical student, is described as extremely fit and a very hard hitter.
The other team members, Kang Gee Bah (the manager) and V. Gopal (team captain) are both aged 31. Kang has represented Singapore Armed Forces since 1970 and is a “very stylish” player. Gopal only began competitive squash seven years ago, but has made rapid strides.
Rod Hayes, the national under-23 champion, is top seed for this week-end’s tournament and will be determined to recapture the title he lost to Paul McFadzien last year. Bryan Simpson has been given the second seeding and the Singapore players have been slotted in between him and the next “local,” Craig Hibbert.
4 June 1980
