The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1916-01-11
JAP Takes Rank
AS tennis PLAYER
YeIIbw Peril Breaking Out
In An Entirely New
Spot.
Az Aasoelated Prfess)

NEW YORK, Jan. 1l.-Ine oeLeaG
Of Clarence ~. Griffin, ranked sew.
enth among the American tennis play
siers or 1913, by the Japanese expert
Rumagae I'm the, championship match
OF the Far Eastern title tournament at
Manila, on Saturday January s,is an
Z other Illustration OF the progress Pc
5ng mad j in ali branches of sport by
} the Japanese, Kumagaes ts far from
being a novice with the racquet as
his yictoryaover Griffin demonstrates,
vet there, are several Other, native
PLAYERS COT Japan who can always BIO
counted upon to give Kumagae n hard
battle when they meet him on the
court!
AS far back as 1918 iKumagae was
kmakingssit- interesting. for American
tannis players although he was COM
new to the game at that
time In company, with three other
i Japanese players he entered .the~FaT
Eastern tournament played at the be.
ginning of 1914 and succeeded in work.
ling his way to the semt.f1nal round
sof9the singles and with .Nomura reach.
led the final of the doubles. The entry
list Included the leading English, Ger
man and American resident. players
ssof Far Eastern countries, as we'll as
William NJ. johnson; the present Am
erican champion, and Ella Fottrell
who made the trip from California es.
pecially to, play in the tourney.
at that time Kuniagae was a stu
dent at Keio University WHO had TAX
zen up tennis only two years before
and had played the game with plain
rubber ball, such as children bounce
ION Ne sidewalks OF the country, up to
WITHIN few months of his first tour
fiament. Notwithstanding his limit
ed experience Kumagae made, 1t de-
;cidedly interesting for both ,FottreIl
and johnston In the semi:final OF
the singles It required FIVE sets OF the
stardest kind ofyplay by: Fottrell to de
feat the japanese. The, scores, were
s7.5l as, 81, as, 60, insfayor Of Fott-
reli but the match was carried over
day on account OF darkness when Fott-
srell led at two sets to one with the
s, fourth So games in favor OF Kumagae.
This unfinished set was thrown out
: the next day and the Japanese won
the play at GA. Had he received cred
lit for his Overwhelming lead OF the
proceeding day he would have undoubt-
7sedly9won, the match and met Johns
I ION in VtheE finRl,t.As.i 1t was kumagae,
with Nomura for a partner, gave
Johnston and Fottre1l another hard
battle In the final of the doubles al
though their lack of team work was a
handicap against the clever, play OF
the Americans and they were defeat
led 60, 81, 6-2.
Kumagaeeis a short stocly Japanese
with powerful overland and fore
arm drive while his service and back
hand play compare favorably with that
of the average American big tourna-
meflt player. He is exceptionally fast
on his feet and possesses remarkable
!, POWERS of endurance. If he should
complete in this country next sea.
son, as has been suggested, 1t will
be found that Kumagae will be en-.
titled to rank among the first fifteen
of American lawn tennis. In all his
matches he. had shown indomitable
spirit and determination, never CON
e ceding a match lost untll the last
point is scored against him.. Another
factor in his favor is that the expert
Snce and reputation OF an opponent
never appear to ovcrawe the Japan
esesracquet expert.
The University of Chicago baseball
team. which has Just returned from a
: sIOurE OIL Inc II al E9uoL, s+LlebS DSShSh 49,
cess with the batthan Griffin had with
the racquet. While in the land OF Mp
pongthe Maroon nine played % games
against Waseda and Keio University
beams and won them all,Escoring a tot
alsof 4S runs toto. All toldaChicago
played twelve games in Japan win
1 ning,one against the All.Americans by
aSscore of 20 to 0, and the other by
- to / from. the All.Japan team. A
majority OF the contests with the Jap.
y hnese collegians, resulted in shut-out
victories for-the Maroon players, The
entire trip Is considered to he one
Of the most Successful; ever madcIby
middle western university9 nine Out
! of total of forty.one EgantesS played,
thirty.threeewere won, seven lostSan
one tied. Fifteen games were played
with Far Western and Pacific Coast
teams; six in Hawaii; twelve In Japan
Zands eight in the PHILIPPINES. The tot;
al number of runs scored in the forty
8 one games were Chicago $50; op.
ponents 90 - =.
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