Action in the World Games for the Deaf basketball tournament at Cowles Stadium

American swimmer Reed Gershwind is following in the footsteps of his countryman and Olympic gold medallist Matt Biondi.

Gershwind proved the fastest swimmer on the second day of the swimming events at the World Games for the Deaf when he swam one length of the Queen Elizabeth II pool in 24.97 sec today.

Because the 50m freestyle is a new event at the games, Gershwind’s time was posted as a deaf swim record. But he will be pushed to keep it tonight when he meets Russia’s Dima Grigoriev in the final.

Grigoriev’s team-mate, Andrei Kuznecov, was the first swimmer to use the long underwater dive start in a backstroke event.

Deaf backstrokers competing in the games have been permitted to use the unusual start which proved controversial at the Seoul Olympics last year.

Unfortunately Kuznecov failed to gain an advantage with his underwater start. He finished fifth in his heat and qualified last for the final.

New Zealand’s Michael Lynch swam in the same heat as Kuznecov and beat him for fourth place. Lynch swam 2:30.45, 3.5 sec faster than his previous best time during the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, New Zealand was beaten by Australia in the basketball at Cowles Stadium today, 76–63.

The New Zealand captain, Tony McGill, put the first points on the board with an impressive three pointer but the Kiwis could not keep the pressure on.

Defensive play let the side down while the Australians made points out of simple shots and collecting rebounds.

At half-time the New Zealand side was trailing 27–40. Two Canterbury representatives in the team made their presence felt on the board — Malcolm Clausen (23 points) and McGill (15 points).

The top Australian scorer was Kevin Cresdee with 20 points.

Photo caption: Action in the World Games for the Deaf basketball tournament at Cowles Stadium. New Zealand’s Malcolm Clausen shoots as Paul Krananberg challenges in the morning’s major clash. Australia won, 76–63.