The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-08-11
Today's Sport Parade
BY Henry McLemore
UNITED Press stan CorrespondcntD

little fencing amphitheater, located
In the center OF q cluster Of lovely
old trees There were no seats, The
spectators, and there were several
thousand OF them, simply rocllne on
the grass terraces In the center
OF q natural bowl, shaded By
branches OF big trees, are four
wooden runways and II Is on these
that the modern D'Artagnans per-
form.
Four sets OF fencers we're going OF
II with what resembled long silver
polsers when arrived, and the air
was filled with braves" "vivas" and
the clang OF steel against steel. There
was some cusslng, too, for the Ital-
ians and the French musketeers have
a habit OF speaking III OF their OPP
ponents' ancestors when punched
with the business end OF q sword.
Scoring OF touches Is all done by
electricity. The fencers wear suits
which are wired with a sort OF bur-
glar alarm system. When fellow
Is touched, q bell rings and a green
light flashes. This system was
adopted this year to eliminate pri.
vate brawlS between judges, which
featured past Olympics. The judges
never could agree when q competi-
tor was poked. AS q result, every
bout had It's side bout with the
Judges squaring Of,
I tried to master the intricacles
OF fencing, but left the place In q
fog. One OF the points ! couldn't get
clear was why q touch was n touch
no matter where II landed. A touch
on the toe was as good as one on the
back Of the car. This wouldn't work
In q real fight. A fellow could lose
two or even three toes and still carry
on. But one good stab on the back
Of the ear and he would be rendered
hors de combat, II youll allow me
TO get technical.
From fencing, went TO the field
hockey stadium and became even
more deeply enveloped In ignorance.
Japan and India, two top teams,
were playing, and watched 1t for
an hour In the hope that the idea
back OF the game would penetrate
my noggin. But 1t never did. The
players use weapons which resemble
immature Ice hockey sticks, and q
ball about the size OF baseball. The
ball plays q very small part, how
ever. The players hit 1t only when
an opponents shin is not available.
And II a shin Is not within reach,
the players will whack at wrists,
heads, ribs and thighs before they
will make a 60 for the ball.
When I left, India was leading
Japan by Is Shins to E. I believe
that a team of wooden legged men,
which would be impervious to pun
ishment, could win the champion
ship hands-down.
The stadium and a soccer game
was my next visit. And II must be
great game, for $4,000 people
jammed the place and $4,000 people
have no business being wrong. Still,
my guess Is that they were, for Soc
Ger is game for seals. The idea Of
the game as far as I could make 1t
out Is to see how high you can
bounce a ball OF your head. The
sport must be subsidized by the as
pirin trusts.
Water polo ! partially fathomed,
so to speak. I saw Hungary, cham
pions Of the world, In action, and 1t
Is simply a question of time until
all Of Its players are behind the bars
for wilful drowning. The Hungarian
style Of play Is very simple. It's a
man-to-man attack. Before play be-
gins. each Hungarian player Is given
an opponent to drown and with the
first blast Of the whistle he goes out
TO do his duty. There are several
thousand Hungarian rooters in the
stands and when a Hungarian op-
ponent went down for the third
time the cheering was terrific. The
HungarianS have a tremendous ca
pacity for staying under water. They
could spot Doctor Beebe two diving
bells and outlast him on any coral
reef by an hour.
Copyright, 1896, by United Press)