Jamsetji Merwanji

Jamsetji Merwanji (also spelled Jamsetjee; born 1871/2[n 1]) was an Indian professional racquets player, who was world champion of the sport from 1903 to 1911.

Profile

He was a Parsi who worked as a "marker" (club professional) at the Bombay Gymkhana. In 1903 in England, he played Gilbert Browne[2] at Queen's Club and Prince's Club for the vacant world title, winning by five games to one.[3] The world title was contested by challenge, and the distance between India and Britain or America meant he never had to defend his title until 1911.[1] His closest rival in India was his brother Padanji, who was a marker in Pune.[1] He was finally challenged in late 1909, for 5,000 rupees, by Charles Williams, who had beaten amateur E. M. Baerlein to become English champion.[4] The contest did not take place until 1911, when several Indian sports teams journeyed to Britain around the coronation of George V and 1911 Imperial Conference.[5] Jumanji easily beat Baerlein in a warm-up match,[6] but Williams, 17 years Jumanji's junior, beat him at Queen's Club by five games to nil.[5][7][1]

Footnotes
  1. He was aged 39 in February 1911.[1]

References
  1. "THE RACQUETS CHAMPIONSHIP: Jamsetji of Bombay sails for England". The Straits Times. Singapore. 24 February 1911. p. 7. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  2. McNeill, Ronald (1911). "Racquets" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 780–783.
  3. Danzig, Allison (1930). The Racquet Game. Macmillan. pp. 94–5, 244.
  4. "Sporting Intelligence: Notes in General". The Straits Times. 27 December 1909. p. 8. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  5. Kidambi, Prashant (2013). "Sport and the Imperial Bond: The 1911 'All-India' Cricket Tour of Great Britain". The Hague Journal of Diplomacy. 8 (3–4): 261–285: 262. doi:10.1163/1871191X-12341256. ISSN 1871-1901.
  6. "The Sporting World; Racquets". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 2 June 1911. p. 5. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  7. Majumdar, Boria (2005). Indian Cricket Through the Ages: A Reader. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 9780195667868.
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