This year's annual winter tournament will attract 600 students to Wellington to participate in fourteen sports. Activities will start on Saturday and will continue until Saturday, August 17.

It is hoped that Vic improves its lamentable showing of last year when the only successes achieved were a first in badminton and a first equal in soccer.

The host usually has certain advantages, and it is hoped these will help in projecting Victoria to the fore of inter-varsity sport once again.

Skiing

Prospects for Vic at Tournament appear to be reasonable with John Armstrong especially expected to perform well.

The provisional list for Tournament is as follows:

Women: Gay Blyth, Mary McLauchlan, Bettina Prior.

Men: John Armstrong, Clive Thorp, Tim Haiseldene, David White, Reserves: Bob Ongley, Sid Tupper.

Venue: Mt. Ruapehu.

Indoor Basketball

The competition games are being held at Newtown Stadium and will be highlighted by the selection of NZU team to play Hutt Valley (Friday, 16 August) and Wellington (Saturday, 17 August).

Canterbury and Otago wil field very strong teams and should fight out the top positions. (Otago have four provincial reps in C. Morris, (NZU rep), B. Keith, R. Stewart, and A. Robinson.

Current Canterbury reps are J. Uttley, J. Culliford, P. Stigley and A. Taylor, Culliford was in the New Zealand Under-20 side that went to Australia in 1967.

The Victoria teams is: J. Somsai, K. Davies, M. Myers, R. Colello, J. Hall, R. Agnew, N. Parris, G. Rapson, P. Green.

The men's team has had the benefit of coaching from Elder Ashton for the past month.

Women

Otago will be the strongest side in the sport.

However, Canterbury, with three provincial reps in G. Hannan, D. Brougnton and A. Lees should provide some tough competition.

Victoria is not as strong as in past years and its hopes For a reasonable showing will rest on the performances of the two Wellington B reps, Robyn Stephens and Michelle Schoenberger.

The Vic team is: Anne Saunders, Eva Bent, Michelle Schoenberger, Vicky Tilley, Robyn Stephens, Sandy Flett, Rowan Anderson, Rosalind Digby, Coach M. Myers.

An NZU team will meet Wellington on the Wednesday night at Newtown Stadium.

Venue: Newtown Stadium.

Shooting

Canterbury are the most likely contenders for top honours this year, having won the Inter-Varsity Championship at least nine times since its inception.

Auckland and Otago are also expected to provide strong challenges.

Competing for Auckland this year will be the top shooter in the Auckland team, Tom Mulvey.

This year he is the Auckland Association's No. 1 shooter for team events having an average score of 99.71 out of a possible 100.

Only two of Vic's 1967 team, Sue Lothian and Norm Robieson are here this year, and while the newcomers to the team, Dave Kent, Rod McLeod, and Gavin Adlam, have been improving it remains to be seen how they will fare under the tension of Tournament competition.

The prospects of success are not great and Tournament will for Vic very likely consist of a battle with Lincoln for the "Wooden Spoon", with the only point in the team's favour being its familiarity with the difficult range that is to be the venue, Brooklyn Rifle Range.

Soccer

Otago appears to be the Strongest team in Tournament.

They are leading the Otago senior A division and have in their team A. Hutton, an Otago rep and NZU player for four years.

Canterbury and Auckland are also expected to provide strong competition.

Vic last year tied for first place at Dunedin and many of last year's team have returned.

The team is C. Ryan (capt), J. Feast, R. Lingard, J. Mehl, A. Mudford, R. Howell, H. Lateef, B. Chand, R. Shuker, K. Too, A. Baysting, W. Groves, M. Peters, P. Burrell, A. Mann.

Previous NZU reps are Howell, Too and Byan.

Venue: Memorial Park, Petone.

Squash

Otago, Auckland and Canterbury are the strongest teams here this year with Vic being able to play only a minor role.

Otago have in their team B. Tietjans—a NZ junior titleholder.

The Vic team is:

Men: S. Perry, E. Wilson, C. Rickit.

Women: So far only one player, R. Beard has been selected.

Venue: John Reid's Squash Courts.

Table Tennis

Auckland will field a strong team this year, but the competition is fairly even, with Canterbury, Otago and Victoria entering teams capable of beating them.

G. Murphy of Otago is a former NZ junior titleholder and is nationally ranked.

On paper Vic's men side seems to have a strong team, comprising B. Coley and G. Langridge (NZU players); B. Tricklebank (a Wellington A grade rep); and R. Middleton (a Hutt Valley rep).

Linda Oliver and Chien Siew Roo are the most promising of the Vic's women's side.

An Australian Universities team is playing in Tournament in an unofficial capacity.

Venue: Northland Community Hall.

Badminton

Vic won the Badminton last year and has a good chance of doing it again. Most of last year's teams are still present. However, the loss of Lim Ee Chiat (the No. 1 in the 1967 N.Z.U. team) will be sorely felt.

Major competition is expected from Auckland and Otago with the other competing universities being relatively weak.

Otago has two ex-Victoria players in P. Tan and Bin-Gay Seow.

T. Wong, their No. 1 player is an Otago and N.Z.U. rep.

Two of Victoria's players, B. Quirke and T. Heaps will be strong contenders for the N.Z.U. team.

The Women's section should be fairly even.

Vic have a good chance of winning with the inclusion of Jan Miles (NZU rep) and a promising fresher Sandra Musker.

Vic's teams will be:

Women: Janet Miles, Sandra Musker, Pat Tipler, Jocelyn Trewby.

Men: Terry Heaps, Brian Quirke, Peter Wilson and Brian Mearfield or Tony Cohen.

Venue. Uni Gymnasium.

Harriers

The Harrier team should, on the results achieved at the provincials, where most members improved on last year's placing, put up a better showing than the dismal performance at Dunedin last season.

Seconi, the club's number one hope, showed tremendous form in finishing in 10th place at the provincial's thereby earning himself selection as a reserve in the Wellington team for the nationals.

Auckland, Otago and Massey are all expected to send strong teams and it is quite possible that Otago will lose their dominance of varsity harriers.

The favourite to win the individual title is Massey's E. Robertson who represented N.Z.U. against Australia in the 1 mile, 3 miles and steeplechase earlier this year.

Other contenders are likely to be Batten (Auckland), Seconi (Victoria), Darling and Beath (Otago).

A preview by Ian Stockwell

A N.Z.U. team will race against Wellington province at Queen Elizabeth Park, Paekakariki, on Saturday August 17.

Venue: Queen Elizabeth Park, Paekakariki. 13 Aug., 2 p.m.

Basketball

Otago, on present form will be the side most likely to win tournament.

Canterbury and Victoria, who in the past few years have finished in the top three, should provide spirited opposition.

It will be interesting to see how Massey and Auckland fare aaginst the three teams.

Vic have in their team Marion Evans, a Wellington senior B rep, and Jan Tunnicliffe, a promising player who is an under-20 rep.

The Victoria team is: Elizabeth Simmons, Margot Creevy, Marion Evans, Brenda Yates, Maryanne McAloon, Jan Tunnicliffe, Jocelyn Robson.

The relative success of the Victoria team this season is mainly due to the fact that they have built up a good combination through using the same players.

This was proved by the fact that 6 out of the 7 were rep trialists this year.

This is the first time women's outdoor basketball has been included in Winter Tournament.

Previously it was in Easter Tournament.

Venue: Uni Tennis Courts.

Fencing

The main opposition in both the men and women's fields, is expected to be provided by Auckland and Otago.

Fencing was for many years in the doldrums at Vic, but recently there has been a resurgence.

Vic, on paper, has two very strong teams this year.

The men's team includes G. Stratigopolous who is the national epee champion and J. Loh and O. Davies who made the NZU team last year.

The women's side includes Greta Firth who was the 1967 NZU captain and Wendy Fletcher who was a reserve in the NZU team.

The teams are:

Women: Vivian McLean, Greta Firth, Wendy Fletcher, Susan Norris and Barbara Lawn (reserve).

Men: G. Stratigopolous (all weapons); O. Davies (all weapons); J Loh (Sabre and foil); D. Flaws (epee and sabre); R. Clarke (epee); R. Hayman (foil).

Leading the Otago team is Peter Ring, a NZU rep in Australia and an Olympic trialist.

J. Gaudin from Auckland was also a NZU rep in Australia.

Otago appears to be the strongest team in the women's section.

Venue: Winter Show Buildings, John St.

Golf

Three Freyberg Rosebowl players will be competing this year.

They are P. R. Adams (Otago University), M Radford (Otago University) who represented Southland and R. Barltrop (Victoria) who represented Manawatu-Wanganui.

All three have been past members of NZU teams.

Other players attending who have played for NZU in the past are: G. Harrison (Auckland, 1966) E. Webber (Auckland 1966), B. Taylor (Canterbury 1966-67), J. Billington (Victoria 1967), W. Trewern (Otago 1967).

The Victoria team selected after extensive trials at Miramar and Paraparaumu is R. Barltrop, M. Phelan, J. Billington and J. Ingle.

Last year the Tournament was won by Otago with Vic second.

Otago this year look to be the team to beat, but the fact that Vic is playing on its home course (Miramar) will even the odds.

Auckland appears to be the only other team with a chance.

This year's NZU team will again be strong with the top three players from last year Adams, Barltrop and Taylor (who all attended Von Nida's coaching school in January this year) available.

There promises to be fierce competition for the six places in the NZU team.

The NZU match against Wellington on Saturday, 17 August, at Paraparaumu, should be close.

Hockey

The outstanding feature here is the appearance of two members of the 1968 Olympic team for Mexico.

They are Selwyn Maister and Jan Borren, both members of the Canterbury team.

A. Borren (brother of Jan) also in the Canterbury team, is a current Canterbury rep as well.

Canterbury, who have won the tournament for the past 2 years will be the team to beat.

Vic's men's team has had an extremely good season locally and is at present top of the McNaught Cup championship with a one point lead from WCOB.

The tournament team comprises: P. Maria, G. Kirkham, C. Kirkham, R. Gray, K. Purchase (capt.), J. Scott, P. Morgan, D Price, P. Dentice, J. Matthews, G. Jackson, T. Broadmore, D. Starke.

Several members have made various Wellington represen-Purchase (Wellington A); R. tative sides this season—K. Gray, D. Price, P. Morgan, P. Denhie, G. Kirkham (Senior Reserve); J. Scott (capt.), J. Matthews (Wellington Colts).

Vic finished second behind Canterbury at Dunedin last year and should finish well.

On Thursday 15 August, up on the final points table, the NZU team will play Wellington.

Venue: Karori Park.

Women

The team finished third at Tournament last year. Otago are excepted to dominate again.

On paper the team should perform as well as last year if not a little belter as it has the advantage of knowing the home ground.

Members of the team are: Loraine Spence, Janette McKay (capt.), Jill Broad, Sue Lavin, Caroline Auret, Anne Rich, Alison McNeil-Adams, Margaret Henderson, Betty Wadnam, Maureen Wenman, Sandra McColl.

A 'B' team is also participating to make up the draw.

It comprises: Peta Campbell, Moana Herewini, Tili Peseta, Alice Taylor, Barbara Kirkus, Anne Mortimer, Claire Johnstone, Sue Boulton, Ruth Symes, Helen Tye, Leslie O'Cairn, Anne Kerr.

Otago's dominance of the last three Tournaments will be strongly challenged this year by Auckland who have several provincial cup reps in C. Ringer, L. Carruthers, E. Inia and C. Moore.

Six of the Vic team participated in the provincial trials with one member, A. McNeill-Adams being selected for the Wellington team.

Venue: Karori Park.

Judo

Victoria's team is: D. Freyberg, M. Bond, P. Cleghorn, S. F. Chong, P. Cowern, I. MacMillan.

The team members are all experienced contest men. Bond is a member of the New Zealand under-23 team, and MacMillan was placed second in the middle-weight division at 1967 Tournament.

Victoria should do well this year with Otago likely to provide the most opposition having been winners for the past two years.

Venue: Y.M.C.A., Lower Hutt.

League

Rugby League is included for the first time in Tournament.

It is a comparatively new University sport, and with encouragement from the League Association the sport could develop into one to be contended with.

There will be five teams competing, with Auckland, coached by former Kiwi, J. Fagan, the strongest. T. Toleafoa from Otago was a Southern trialists.

The Vic team is: D. Pennington, T. Smith, F. Agnew, N. Shields, C. Hall, G. Rasmussen (capt.), G. McBride, J. Highman, R. McRae, D. Ashwell, W. Powell, F. Still, B. Raeburn, J. Dixon, W. Russell.

Victoria could finish runners-up.

Rasmussen, the captain, has played senior League for Randwick and T. Smith is a member of the Wellington under - 21 side.

Venue. Winter Showgrounds, John St.