Funk, drawing a bye in the first round, made a con-spi icuous start in a second-round encounter of the Men's Singles division of the Badminton championship series over the week-end.
He fully justified the confidence placed in him by badminton experts, who strongly favour him to win the title in the absence of A. G. Meise, by displaying marked superiority over his opponent, R. Amvig, to win in two straight sets, the scores being 18-13 and 15-4.
He has only recently returned to Shanghai and just got back into his proper form. His being the most favoured player to win this year is easily understood when his brilliant performance in the series last year is recalled. It will be remembered that he swept away all opposition in convincing style in the preliminary rounds to reach the finals where he was beaten by the old Maestro Meise. in two straight, but gruelling sets.
The Chinese player's superiority was mot obvious until late in the first set when after trailing all the way he staged a splendid rally in the eleventh hour to force a deadlock before carrying on togwin, His start was mediocre as He seemed unaccustommed to the French Club courts, He was guilty of several errors, hitting the shuttlecock into the net in "gift" smashes. Arnvig managed to hold a small lead of two or three points until he reached 13. The (Chinese player had 10 points then and for a moment it seemed that Arnvig might score an upset. Funk suddenly found his form and in a whirlwind attack tied the score at 13-all, From then on there was literally only one player on the court, as he carried on to take 20 points and allowed Arnvig only four, Arnvig having reached the count of 13 first had the choice of either playing out to 15, or five more points. He preferred. the longer toute as Funk held the serve, but the latter Swept right through the next five points to triumph, 18-13. only permitting his opponent to pick up a point now and then to reach the total of four. Arnvig with defeat staring him in the face, fought a desperate but unavailing battle, but as the game wore on he showed signs of distress through fatigue, having had to be on the "go" almost continually. Meanwhile, Funk played a pretty brand of badminton to vary his pace in true championship style. His deep placements were well placed in the corners while his drop-shots were precise. The latter shots were invariably winners as he employed them when Arnvig was completely beaten and entirely out of position.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.