The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 46

Page 45 SPORT 6 Although there certainly were bubbles in the trial court they didn't affect its playability. venue for pen The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, April 30, 1987 S8t 1" HxV flit Hi Weather key to iim fi WWtlw- fx 'MELBOURNE: The Melbourne climate, which has often been the despair of tournament organisers, holds the key to whether the Ford Australian Open will be staged at the new National Tennis Centre as projected. "Hn this case it is the weather Melbourne experiences several months before the event that will be crucial. While the $60 million construction is proceeding more or less on schedule, A. V.

Syntec Pty Ltd, which won the court contract, says it will not begin installing the 21 courts (16 outdoor and five indoor) until September. 'The company says the courts known as Synpave Rebound Ace will be put in successively and that the installation of each court take about a week, 3 That would mean almost four months before all the outdoor courts are completed, taking the work close to the opening date of the Open, January II. If there was prolonged bad weather during the installation period the work could be seriously delayed, with disastrous consequences for the tournament. Rebound Ace cannot properly be laid in wet weather unless some sort of protective tent is erected over the site, which is a possibility. A.

V. Syntec claims that it was wet weather during the installation period which caused prob- lems with the trial court laid for Tennis Australia at Camberwell. The court had to be resurfaced after eight months, and even then it bubbled alarmingly in very hot apparently because of water vapour coming to the "'surface. rell Tennis Australia selected Rebound Ace for the National Centre after a vigorous campaign waged by the leading male players against the other 3 leading tender, a synthetic grass surface called Omni-Pro-Court. the National Tennis Centre courts will be free of problems if they are laid in suitable weather.

"This court will take tennis into the year 2000," he said. "We are not pretending that it will put other 'court suppliers out of business. It is too costly to "It is the ultimate court; the top of the range. You could, compare it with a Porsche. You have to put new tyres on a Porsche, and you will have to put a hew coating on Ace every five to seven years.

"The intrinsic value is what counts." Tennis Australia has accepted A. V. Syntec's assurances. "Although there certainly, were bubbles in the trial court they didn't affect its payability," the president of Tennis Australia, Brian Tobin, said. "The fact is the company has guaranteed the surface; and the maintenance of the surface, for five years." Tobin said the all-up cost of each court could be about $45,000 and agreed that this put it beyond the budget of most clubs and associations.

But he believes the bounce the court yields is not dissimilar from that on less expensive courts, and that players can easily move from the more conventional hard court to Rebound Ace. As for the possible delay in installing the courts at the National Tennis Centre, he saidr "I would like to see them make a start before September. "So far we have not felt the need for a contingency plan, but if there looks like being problems we will have to make a crunch decision about the venue for the 1988 Open by about the end of June when we start to put the tickets on sale." Two States, NSW and South Australia, are believed to be interested in staging the Open if the new centre is not ready. 7 XN Il -y champion Samart Payakarun trains at the Glebe Estate Gym in readiness for the brush off life high Cup 51 Piaures by IAN CtGLEY his title defence on May 8. knockout over celebrated Mexican Lupe Pintor to annex the WBC crown.

That effort, and his subsequent defence against another Mexican, Juan (Kid) Meza, last December earned Payakarun the award for most progress in 1986 from Ring magazine. -His third title defence was supposed be early this year against the No 1 WBC contender, Seung-Hoon Lee of Korea. But according to Payakarun's handlers, Lee was "running scared" and instead decided to move to the IBF, of which he is now champion. This left the way open for a fight against Fenech, promoted to No 1 by the WBC. After five months of two postponements and haggling over the purse Payakarun.

is. now ready to meet his obligations in the ring. The 10th Thai to win a world title, he has been described as untypical of his countrymen. He is a not a hard puncher like many Thais durable but lacking in finesse. Yet' he has quick legs and fine footwork, and Fenech will find it hard to corner him.

It certainly promises to be an outstanding contest, and the Interest has been exceptional. The bout will be televised to Thailand, and already a Bangkok press corps is in the country to report on the build-up. The attention, however, has not fazed Payakarun. His expression, as always, is resolute. Arok said he was happy with the form of his recognised players, although he saved much of the praise for one of his newcomers, Brunswick Juventus striker, Andrew Zinni.

Zinni was given a limited taste of international football last season but showed enough to suggest that he can handle the rise in standard comfortably. saw him play against Preston in Melbourne last Sunday and he has shown that the experience with the national team; has helped," Arok said. "He has terrific speed and he caused the Preston defence all sorts of problems." ion I AM -4 quad champ The decision-has been strongly criticised by the Tennis Court Builders Association, which claims that Rebound Ace is one of two. courts out of six which "failed to pass" the Camberwell trials. The revolutionary court is made from granulated synthetic rubber, bound by polyurethane to give it extra resilience.

Players report that it is much easier on their joints and muscles than other hard courts and that it yields an even, medium-fast bounce. However, the Tennis Court Builders' Association contends that similar courts have been built here and overseas before arid have been unsuccessful because sooner or later they have broken down. Less than six Rebound Ace courts have been built in Australia. In the current issue of Tennis magazine, Sandy Lodge, a spokesman for the association, is quoted as saying: "The basic problem is in adhering acrylics to polyurethane. The two materials have different rates of expansion and contraction.

Once the weather hots up the flaw becomes Lodge believes the cost of each Rebound Ace court, including preparatory work, will be about $45,000. "That defeats the argument that it will be good for juniors to learn the game on because clubs won't be able to afford it," he says. John Field, a director of A. V. Syntec, dismisses such criticism as "sour grapes" and maintains that big for Pam Burridge, the aspiring women's world surfing champion, is facing a make-or-break heat in the first round of the $1 5,000 Smiths Crisps Pro at Manly tomorrow.

Burridge, the No 2 seed, has drawn Bondi teenager Pauline Menczer, who is considered by many to be the hottest prospect to emerge in years. The pint-sized Menczer, one of seven Australian girls to qualify through the trials yesterday, is a small-wave specialist. It is forecast that the swell, will stay at less than a metre, which will give the youngster the edge on the lanky Burridge, despite the fact that Manly is the latter's home break. Menczer, the NSW women's amateur champion, surfed rings around defending world champion Freida Zamba, of Florida, in a first-round heat of the recent Rip Curl Easter Classic at Bells Beach. Only an interference penalty prevented her from scoring an upset victory.

Burridge, who leads the' women's championship rankings by a slender 130 points, has to beat Zamba by a place at Manly to secure the title that has eluded her for five years. "I know how much this contest means to. Pam, but I will be out there to win," Menczer said. "If the waves stay small my size will certainly be an advantage, but I don't really care whether it's big or small." The first rounds of the men's heats for the Coca-Cola Classic will be held. today.

Australian competitors dominated the trials of the Smiths Crisps tournament and only one foreigner among the eight Little -ICVO gives IliB Hi li nii IM i 4 SAMART PAYAKARUN Sib (3.6kg) excess when he arrived in Sydney early this month. Payakarun and his handlers are not saying he was having too many distractions, but it seems likely that his lengthy preparation here is designed as an escape from these outside Whether he has been given a kick in the pants only he and his largely non-English speaking entourage know. What is clear, however, is that his mind is now exclusively on 1 the job at hand, That job is to do what no man has done before him beat Fenech in a professional fight. To do it before a likely 12,000 crowd in the cauldron of the Sydney Entertainment Centre only adds to the size of his task. Yet Payakarun is undaunted.

Far Instead, he sleeps, eats and -trains. In his hotel room there is a stack of video tapes of Fenech's previous fights, a scale to keep a daily check on how close he is to the 8st 101b limit, a guitar, his WBC belt and a large bed. He wakes at 6 am for breakfast, goes back to bed at 10 am, wakes at 3 pm to go to the gym, goes back to his room for a bath before going out to a local Thai restaurant and then he is back in bed by 9 pm. Apart from a quick trip to the city and the Opera House he has not varied from this routine. It is only his third overseas trip for a fight.

Previously he made two f' trips to Paris, once for a kick-box- ing (muay thai) contest and in 1985 he defeated Jaime Enriques in a regular boxing match. It was in muay thai that Payakarun first made his name. He followed his elder brother Kong-, thoranee (now rated in the top 10 in the WBC super-flyweights) into the sport which is a passion among the Thais. But after 118 muay thai contests, interrupted by a brief but successful stint at regular boxing, he quit kick boxing for good in 1984. It was in conventional boxing that Payakarun and his handlers' could see an international future, and so it proved after just 11 professional bouts.

On January 18 last year, at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, he scored a fifth-round Thai super-bantamweight By MICHAEL COCXERILL It has been reliably reported that Samart Payakarun has actually -smiled in public during his three-week stay in this country. Last week, during one of his -daily training sessions at the Glebe Estate Gymnasium, three young street urchins climbed into the ring to help the WBC super-bantamweight champion during one of his exercises. Then it happened his face broke into a grin. "He loves children. He always smiles at them," his assistant manager, Yingyong Pamichpol, pv j.J-tVi it -y It is just as well.

Life, it is otherwise a serious business for this 170cm tall southpaw. If boxing is about steely nerves and; grim determination then it is little wonder that Payakarun is a winner. As he approaches his second defence of a title he obviously cares for deeply, his concentration is almost For unlike Jeff Fenech's previous international opponents there is' no fanfare surrounding this man. He is -preparing for his showdown with Australian boxing's favourite son on May 8 with a deadly, consuming earnest. Not that 24-year-old Payakarun is all work and no play.

Back home in Bangkok he is known for his love of the high life. It is not uncommon for him to be seen in a nightclub with a beautiful woman on his arm. Perhaps this accounted for his By RAY GATT Winfield Socceroo coach Frank Arok will adopt a "safety first" approach when he eventually gets down to selecting his squad for the international tournament in Seoul in June. The start of the tournament is a little over six weeks away and Arok is busy shaping his 18-man squad at. a series of two-day camps in Sydney and Melbourne.

Although there will be two more camps later next month and a match; against leading English first division club Everton, it seems that Arok already has a fair idea who he will take to Seoul. "I -usually like; to surprise Shy Thai Atom: from it. From what can be gleaned through an interpreter he is supremely confident about his prospects. Sure Fenech is tough. Sure he is durable.

But he cannot punch hard enough. He is certainly no more, dangerous than his 14 previous opponents, and the records show that he disposed of those. Ask Payakarun a question, as a television crew attempted yesterday through a complicated system of interpreters, and the answers are monosyllabic. His English is nonexistent and he is reluctant to be drawn into conversation. The media, which according to the Thar consulate have afforded Payakarun more publicity than any visiting Thai sportsmen who have preceded him, are an unwanted, if necessary, diversion.

Perhaps that has helped build the aura which, surrounds Fenech's trainer, Johnny Lewis, admits he is by far the former IBF bantamweight champion's most formidable opponent. By remaining largely aloof Payakarun has made it difficult to test the theory. He has given little away during his sparring sessions at John McColl's gym. And in stark, con-. trast to the string of American boxers we have seen recently in -Australia men like David Bey, James Tillis, Steve McCrory and Jerome Coffee he has made no extravagant claims about his own In particular, Arok was referring to Slater's failure to turn up for one of the camps last year although the.

young striker is adamant he was not told that he to i Arok- may be cutting off his nose to spite his face because Slater has scored in Croatia's five championship matches and one Beach Fashions Cup game this 'season. He is determined to make it difficult for Arok to continue to ignore him. After seven goals in six games the red-haired striker is full of confidence and poise. -While Arok said he would be taking no gambles, it is interesting 18 enczer Pam Burridge A surprise qualifier was Victorian rookie Jodie Harrison, who will have the daunting task of surfing against Zamba in the first round. Overseas competitors also fared poorly in the trials for the Diet Coke Longboard Local malibu riders won the first and second-round heats to set up an ail-Australian finals series.

Former world champion Nat Young is the No 1 seed for the Masters. -r Burridge Lt 4 I win cost Croatia By RAY GATT West End National Soccer League front-runners Sydney Croatia may have to pay a severe price for their lack-lustre win over St George in a Beach Fashions Cup quarter-final at the Croatian Sports Centre last night. Croatia needed extra time i 1 before advancing to the Cup final with a 3-0 win. i The club's joy, was tempered Somewhat because of a heavy injury toll as a result of the Bruising encounter. Tn The major worry is their Soc-1 jeroo defender Graham Jennings, vho hobbled off in the 61st fninute with a bad ankle injury.

Jennings, who eventually had to be carried to the dressing-room, will go for an x-ray today. There are fears he may have a fracture. The Jennings plight comes on top of the news that Croatia's Socceroo midfielder Zarko Odza-kov could require further surgery on his injured knee and be out for as long as two months. Odzakov, who did not play last night, will have arthoscope next Tuesday. Fortunately for Croatia they will have a week off football as a .3 result of a bye and will have ample time for their players to recover from their many knocks.

After starting out in great style in the first 20 minutes, Croatia were forced to struggle for much of last night's game. They were superior in most facets of the game to St George, who were handicapped by the absence of veteran defender Steve O'Connor. But Croatia were frustrated in their many attempts to break down the Saints defence and eventually were reduced to playing long through balls. SYDNEY CROATIA 3 (G Arnold tones Slater) bt ST GEORGE a Crowd: 2.132. won't gamtol Wii Seoul to note that the gifted Oscar Crino has been called into the Socceroo camp for the Melbourne and Adelaide-based players.

Crino, who is on the verge of joining National League club Footscray; has not played since returning from Cyprus four months ago where he played for 12 months with leading first division club Anorthosis. The midfielder is desperate to regain his Australian spot and is training with the squad. was an integral part of 1986 World Cup qualifying campaign. When he is fit there is no more talented or skilful a player in the people with some of my selections, but I don't think it will be the case this time," Arok, said. "Players I have not Used in the past will have" to produce something extraordinary to get in." Unfortunately, means that 5 players such as Sydney Croatia striker Robbie Slater, and Apia Leichhardt's Rod Brown, will remain on the outer, despite their excellent form.

1 know some players are saying they would die to play for Australia but until their attitude to the training camps changes, and s-they become more consistent, then I want nothing to do with them," 5 Arok said, v- i year old fights back world against make his future playing intentions clear Davies longer be considered part of the progression plan of Neath." Davies replied: "I have not made up my mind about the future. I will decide that after the World Cup." Neath hinted that the Davies might be switching to Rugby League but Davies has rejected the claim. Demons take a grand final Melbourne clinched their first senior grand final in 16 years last night when they defeated Essendon by four points in the Natipnal Panasonic Cup final at VFL Park. Melbourne won 8-10(58) to 8-6(54) to take home: the $60,000 winner's cheque. lr Essendon, who had been heavily favoured to "win the match, took a one-point lead eight minutes Cruising class to Reward OSAKA, Wednesday: The 13 jm Reward, designed and skippered by John Lidgard, of New Zealandj arrived in Osaka today to win the slower and heavier cruising class in the Melbourne-Osaka yacht race.

Reward, 10th overall to cross the finishing line, reached Osaka harbour 38 days 1 hr 50min 27s after leaving Melbourne, organisers said. The Japanese sloop Nakiri Daio arrived in Osaka last Thursday to win the lighter and faster racing class. It was skippered by Warwick Tompkins, of Mill Valley, California, and Kaoru Ohgimi, of Japan. in the Invitation Classic when the Westars managed to defeat the Sonics by only one point. "We shot poorly as a team against Brisbane weekend and we're looking for 100 points against theSuperspnics on Friday," "Westars captain Damian Kepgh said.

5 5. "There's no question we want to win, especially 'against the Supersonics, and it's, only a matter of channelling. the desire in the right direction." Camacho stripped of title MEXICO CITY, Wednesday: The World Boxing Council has effectively stripped i lightweight champion Hector (Macho) Camacho of his crown fof failing to make a mandatory title defence. i In a statement, the WBC said a vote would be held among council officials within the next seven LONDON, Wednesday: Scottish teenager-Stephen Hendry staged a stirring fightback against the title-holder, Joe Johnson of England, in the quarter-finals of the world professional snooker championship last night, Johnson held an 8-1 lead in the best-of-25-frames match before Hendry, 18, came back to 9-7 down at the end of the evening session. England's Jimmy White, starting 8-0 ahead of Dene O'Kane, ended the session leading 11-5, just two frames short of victory and his third appearance in the semi-finals.

The winner of the White-O'Kane contest meets either world No 1, Steve Davis of England, or Welshman Terry Griffiths. Davis led 4-3 at the end of yesterday's play in their quarter-final after a marathon first session of 3hr 38min. Meanwhile, the British Government has ordered an urgent, report from the Sports Council into the use of drugs by snooker The announcement follows controversy over three positive drugs tests and the admission last week by snooker player Neal Foulds that he had used drugs on prescription. The Government is concerned about the use of "certain medicines by some players, with or without medical Foulds, 23, admitted last week that he was taking "beta-blocker" drugs on prescription for a heart condition. The drugs slow the heartbeat and reduce tremor at times of tension, and their use is banned, even on prescription, inta the final quarter before Melbourne's Bret Bailey sealed the match with a goal only two minutes before the siren to give the Demons their, first senior premierships since 1971.

Westars aim for century West Sydney Westars plan to score a century against Sydney Supersonics in the National -Basketball League local derby at the State Sports Centre, Homebush, tomorrow night. The teams will clash in the second round of the league after losing their opening games last week. Brisbane beat Westars 97-83 and Eastside Mel- downed the Sonics 98-76. The Sydney 'teams turned in the lowest scores of the round. Early this month the pair staged a dour struggle Waugh on standby LONDON, Wednesday: Australian all-rounder Steve Waugh has not been entirely discarded by English county cricket club Somerset.

Waugh had been signed by Somerset to play until New Zealander Martin Crowe completed his country's tour of Sri Lanka. When the New Zealand tour was cut short last week Crowe became available, leaving Waugh without a job. i- But the Somerset secretary, Tony Brown said yesterday Waugh would be in the county's team to play Pakistan on May 14. He "said Waugh would not play in the games previously arranged but would remain on standby should Crowe be Injured. Davies may stay SWANSEA, Wednesday: Welsh five-eighth Jonathan Davies may remain in Australia after the Rugby World Cup, which starts on May 22 at Auckland.

Davies was replaced as Neath captain by prop Stuart yesterday. The Welsh club said: "Because he has failed to days on whether to take action against the Puerto Rican official. But WBC officials described the vote as a formality. According to WBC rules, champions must defend their titles every four months. Camacho last fought in September 1986 against Uganda's Cornelius Boza Edwards.

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