The Cercle Sportif Francais International team scored a narrow victory over the Union Church yesterday evening in the Second Division of the Shanghai Men's Badminton League by winning five games out of a total of nine on the Church court.
Although emerging victorious, the Internationals were certainly not in the best of form and could have done much better had Stieker and Elster, who played the first doubles, put up the kind of fight which was expected of them. They lost to Grant and Chelmis in three straight games by a count of 15-9, 15-6, and 15-8. On the other hand, the Church team showed marked improvement since the start of the league. In their debut, none of the couples was able to win a single game against the C.S.F. British. Then a week later when the Churchmen met the Internationals, the final score was 7-2, Yesterday they came as near as 5-4 and within striking distance of springing a surprise.
Through re-arranging the whole combination, Grant and Chelmis were given the opportunity of playing as partners for the first time. They managed to defeat Sticker and Elster by quite a convincing score. The Internationals appeared to have underestimated their "rivals or else they were just too slow ju settling down. The Church pair were winners and, meeting a rally towards the later phases of the game, wound off by a margin of 15-9.
One game behind, Sticker and Elster threw in greater energy and were seen determined for a comeback. They got the first "break" to begin with but it availed them nathe ing for the homesters had already tuned up their game and had it going very well. Gradually Grant and Chelmis increased the lead and finished at 15-6. The result of the third game turned out to be closer than that of the second game. It read 15-8.
Second Doubles The second doubles resulted in the Internationals enjoying revenge when Gensburgh and Jorgensen took the full measure of MacKinnon and Oliveira by 15-4, 15-7,.and 15-6, The victors showed a distinct superiority and won without having to encounter much difficulty. The losers failed to pull themselves together as a team and they needed more practice in order to be hopeful for the future.
In the third doubles, the Church delegates were the first to lead by capturing the opening game 15-11. Their opponents, Alserieff and Loomis, were given a big fright by the home team's quick start, But in the remaining two session the tide of battle turned its course for the visitors to find their feet and reeled off two successive game at 15-9 and 15-8.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.