New Names Win National Titles

A few new names will appear on the trophies at the New Zealand National Badminton Championships after some entertaining finals at North Harbour over the weekend.

The men’s singles final had former Dutch international and former New Zealand national coach TJ Weistra(Waikato) up against one of the players he coaches in Hamilton, Michael Fowke.

The pair had meet previously in the final in 2010 with Weistra coming away the victor. However on this occasion Fowke, 22 came away the winner for the first time, in straight games in a scrappy contest. The loss gives Weistra a record of four finals in a row for a two win, two loss record.

The women’s final saw a clash between two North Harbour players, Anona Pak and Vicki Copeland and eventually had the younger player, Pak winning in three games for her first national title.

Meanwhile in the men’s doubles former New Zealand player, Henry Tam took away the men’s doubles title for the fourth time in a row, each time with another partner. Tam combined with former New Zealand junior player Delius Tang from Auckland to defeated the national under 19 pair from the capital Jacob Morgan (Wellington North) and Elliot Pike (Hutt Valley) in straight games, although the first game was forced to 22-20.

In arguably the match of the day the women’s doubles final had Jihyun Marr, a former Olympic medalist for Korea and former Korean national women’s singles coach win the title with Auckland’s Angie Leung beating defending champs Kylie Luo and Stephanie Cheng 15-21 22-20 21-18 in 55 minutes.

Playing in her first New Zealand nationals Jihuyn also won the mixed title by combining with former top Kiwi junior Chance Cheng to defeat the Waikato pair of Asher Richardson and Madeleine Stapleton in a tight first game 26-24 before taking control in the second game 21-16.

A large number of the players who took part in the tournament were using the event as practice for next month’s world Grand Prix SKYCITY New Zealand Open to be held at the North Shore Events Centre.

Results - Pub Charity New Zealand National Badminton Championships, North Harbour.
Men’s singles final:
Michael Fowke (Waikato) bt TJ Weistra (Waikato) 21-19 21-16
Women’s singles final:
Anona Pak (Nth Harbour) bt Vicki Copeland (Nth Harbour) 21-13 11-21 21-15
Men’s doubles final:
Henry Tam (Auckland)/Delius Tang (Auckland) bt  Elliot Pike (Hutt Valley)/Jacob Morgan (Wellington North) 22-20 21-9
Women’s doubles final:
Jihyun Marr (Northland)/Angie Leung (Auckland) bt Kylie Luo (Auckland)/Stephanie Cheng (Auckland) 15-21 22-20 21-18
Mixed doubles final:
Chance Cheng (Northland)/Jihyun Marr (Northland) bt Asher Richardson (Waikato)/Madeleine Stapleton (Waikato) 26-24 21-16.