Waikato's Quest For Title Stalls

The chance of Waikato retaining its title and winning four in a row at badminton’s provincial team championships, the Wisden Cup stalled after a loss to the local team on the second day of competition which is being played at Waitakere.

Waitakere won all four men’s singles thanks to Geoff Bellingham, Luke Charlesworth, Chance Cheng at No4, three and two respectively while in the top singles Kiwi No1 Joe Wu beat Michael Fowke 21-15 22-20.

Renuga Veeran the Australian import won two of her three matches for Waikato beating countrywoman, Tara Pilven in singles and teaming with former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Tracey Hallam to defeat Ji Hyun Marr and Pei Hsin Chiang in straight games. However in the mixed with TJ Weistra they lost in three games to Cheng and Marr 21-7 18-21 13-21.

North Harbour once again showed strength in their female players by winning all four singles as well as both women’s doubles as they beat the Auckland second team 11-5 while the Auckland top team accounted for Southland with the loss of just three matches, two of which came from its young Aussie players Joy Lai and Vinning Mak while homegrown Southland player James Euson beat Auckland’s Samuel Ho in the top men’s singles.

In Slazenger Cup top seeds Wellington North scored another victory, this time over Otago while other winners were Waitakere 2 and Canterbury.

The third round robin matches start at 3pm Wednesday with Waitakere who now looking like tournament favourites taking on Southland while second placed North Harbour play Auckland 1 and Waikato will try and recoup after their loss when the play Auckland 2. North Harbour plays Auckland 2 and Auckland 1 faces Southland. The tournament runs until Saturday at the Waitakere badminton centre.

Results Wisden Cup and Slazenger Cup from Waitakere:
Wisden Cup round two.
North Harbour 11 Auckland(2) 5, Auckland(1) 13 Southland 3, Waitakere 11 Waikato 5.
Slazenger Cup round two.
Wellington North 13 Otago 1, Waitakere 11 North Harbour 3, Canterbury 9 Bay of Plenty 4.