Evening star., 1952-07-15
Mats Hope Gain While Four Leaders Battle Among Themselves
Soviet Makes Debut
In 0Iympies, Playing
Bu|gar Soccer Team
by the Associcfed Press

Oess Ws 0V~~Vs sVSssu
BY the Associated Press
HELSINKI, July 15.-Soviet
Russia enters Olympic competi-
ton tonight for the first time in
history.
On the soccer field at Kotka. q
bare 80 miles from the Russian
border, the big, husky all-star
team of the Red Army from Mos
cow will meet their friendly neigh
bors from Bulgaria.
The match is one Of nine pre-
liminaries to the genuine Olympic
soccer competition. which begins
Saturday. Kotka is four hours by
slow train from Helsinki. but al
most all the foreign visitors in
Finland are planning to make the
jaunt.
The game probably will be a
good one even though the Soviets
make a habit of mopping up on
their Eastern European Allies in
sports. The Russians are a prime
favorite to win the Olympic soccer
event. Bulgaria, however, played
this same team to a IL draw in q
recent practice game in Moscow.
Field Hockey Play Begins.
The Russian show will steal the
Olympic spotlight away from Hell
|sinki even though full-scale Olym-
pic competition opens in field
hockey in this clean, modern city
this evening. Switzerland plays
Austria and Finland meets Bel
gium.
All field hockey matches up to
the semifinals will be completed
before the official opening Of the
Games on Saturday. It is the only
Olympic sport in which the United
States is not represented.
In the other soccer games to-
night-all played in the natural
brilliant lighting of the long Fin
nish summer evenings-Yugoslavia
will meet India in Helsinki, Hun
gary will play Romania at Torku,
Poland will tackle France at Lahti
and Denmark will face Greece at
Tempere.
Cage Preliminaries Continue.
The preliminary basketball COM
petition. designed to chop an orig
inal entry of % down to Is by the
time the Games open, continued
today.
Canada won its second straight
game defeating Romania, 72-51.
With two victories, Canada
seems sure of one of the six places
left open in the tournament start
ing July "a. Thirteen nations are
competing in the ouble-elimina-
ton trials for the six berths.
The United States, the 1948
Olympic champion; Soviet Russia,
European champion, and eight
Others already have been placed
i'm the tournament.
Towering Harry Wade, the g.
foot-4 center from Tillsonburg,
Ontario, scored 26 points as Can
ada overpowered the speedy but
awkward Romanians.
Romania had bye in yester-
days opening competition while
Canada defeated Italy.
Greece rallied to defeat Israel,
54-52, in a battle of first round
losers. Israel was eliminated on
its second straight defeat although
it led Greece 1927 at half time.
Yesterdays other winners were
Cuba. Egypt, Hungary. Bulgaria
and the Philippines. They beat. in
order, Belgium, Turkey, Greece,
Switzerland and Israel.
While the competition was
going on, the Chinese situation
continued to f1zzle like a damp
f1recracker. Both Nationalist and
Communist China want to play,
but they face long battle
through official red tape in the
form of the International Olympic
Committee before they can get
permission.
The IOC does not begin its
meetings until tomorrow and the
preliminary tournament may cas-
lily be completed by the time a
decision is made.
Rain Delays Training.
Rain, the first in Helsinki in
more than two weeks, threw a
kink into outdoor training plans
both Sunday and yesterday and
most of the athletes were itching
for a return of the perfect
weather.
The moisture was welcomed by
the groundskeepers. however,
since the turf in the 70.O00-seat
main stadium and on the adjacent
soccer fields was beginning to turn
yellow in spots.
The first drawings for track
events yesterday put Americans
into shoulder-to-shoulder compe-
tition with the Russians in the
400-meter hurdle heats and in one
800-meter heat. There will be
no American Russian meetings in
the first round of the 100-meter
dash.
Soviet Russia never before has
entered the Olympics. Czarist
Russia took a small part in the
1912 Stockholm games without
scoring a point.