One Title For Kiwis At Auckland International

New Zealand men’s singles No1 Joe Wu pulled out a top comeback  to become the solitary homegrown title winner at the Fernbaby Auckland Badminton International on Sunday

Wu defeated Malaysia’s Yognedran Khrishnan in straight games 21-16 22-20 in the final, but had to fight hard in the second game coming back from 5-15 down and then 16-20 down to take the title.

The win in 35 minutes will help Wu with his international ranking of 126 but also give him confidence after he was beaten in straight games by Khrishnan in April this year.

Earlier Wu had beaten Waikato player Asher Richardson easily in the semifinals while Khrishnan had a tough tussle over former top Kiwi junior Chance Cheng in three games in his semi which took over 40 minutes to complete.

Meanwhile Waikato-based, Englishwoman, Tracey Hallam won the women’s singles title in straight games defeating countrywoman, Fontaine Mica Champman in a display of control and aggressin. Thirty-eight-year-old Hallam is a former Commonwealth Games singles winner from 2006 and has been ranked in the top 10 in the world.

Hallam also picked up the women’s doubles title by teaming up with Australia’s Renuga Veeran to beat a Vietnamese pair in straight games.

Australia dominated the men’s doubles with two pairs in the finals as well as the mixed draw. Robin Middleton a former world top 20 player for England who is now playing for Australia combined with Ross Smith for the men’s doubles title while Smith teamed with Veeran to score the mixed title.

Earlier the New Zealand hopes in the mixed had been defeated in the semifinals as Waikato brother and sister pairing of Oliver and Susannah Leydon Davis lost to Raymond Tam and Gronya Somerville in straight games while Kevin Dennerly-Minturn and Kritteka Gregroy were beaten by Smith and Veeran, also in straight games.

The majority of players from Auckland now move on to the Victorian International in a bid to gain ranking points towards next years Commonwealth Games qualification.

Results
Auckland Badminton International, Gillies Ave, Badminton Centre.
(New Zealand unless noted)
Men’s singles semifinals:
Yogendran Khrishnan (Malaysia) bt Chance Cheng 21-19 4-21 21-16, Joe Wu bt Asher Richardson 21-7 21-8.
Final:
Wu bt Khrishnan 21-16 22-20
Women’s singles semifinals:
Fontaine Mica Chapman (England bt Thu Huyen Le (Vietnam) 12-21 21-13 21-17, Tracey Hallam (England) bt Anna Rankin 21-12 21-8.
Final:
Hallam bt Chapman 21-15 21-16
Men’s doubles semifinals:
Raymond Tam/Glenn Warfe (Australia) bt Vountus Indra Mawan/Muhammad Adib Nurizwan (Malaysia) 21-19 21-17, Robin Middleton/Ross Smith (Australia) bt Daniel Lee/Dylan Soedjasa 21-7 21-7.
Finals:
Middleton/Smith bt Tam/Warfe 21-16 21-8
Women’s doubles semifinals:
Tracey Hallam (England)/Renuga Veeran (Australia) bt Jacqueline Guan/Gronya Somerville (Australia) 22-20 21-11, Thu Huyen/Nhu Thao Pham (Vietnam) bt Joy Lai/Vinning Mak (Australia) 21-11 21-10.
Final:
Hallam/Veeran bt Huyen/Pham 21-14 21-9
Mixed doubles semifinals:
Raymond Tam/Gronya Somerville (Australia) bt Oliver Leydon-Davis/Susannah Leydon-Davis 21-18 21-18, Ross Smith/Renuga Veeran (Australia) bt Kevin Dennerly-Minturn/Kritteka Gregory 21-13 21-17.
Finals:
Smith/Veeran bt Tam/Somerville 21-16 21-12.