Kiwis Take Three International Badminton Titles

New Zealand can claim some success as they won three out of the five titles on off at the New Zealand Junior Badminton International at North Harbour on Sunday with the home-court strength being shown in the doubles finals.

Titles came in the men’s and women’s doubles and the mixed, while in the women’s singles Victoria Cheng was a beaten finalist. However their will be some disappointment at not being able to gain more ascendancy overall in singles when they had a large number of seeded players.

The mixed final features the Waitakere duo of Luke Charlesworth and Mary O’Connor winning in three games over Canterbury’s Asher Richardson and Madeleine Stapleton(Waikato) 21-17 20-22 21-19. The greater teamwork of Charlesworth and O’Connor helping them in vital points, although Richardson and Stapleton came close to snatching a victory late in the third game.

O’Connor was able to team with Stapleton in the women’s doubles to beat the Australian duo of Tara Pilven and Louisa Ma in straight games, however Pilven won the singles title with a 21-18 21-15 victory against Cheng.

The men’s doubles had Charlesworth combine with North Harbour’s Evan Lee to score a powerful win over the Singapore duo of Terry Hee and Gerald Ong 23-21 21-19. All four players showed it won’t be long before they will be in their nations senior men’s teams.

In the all-Singapore men’s singles final Hee defeated Ong in three tight games with plenty of long rallies throughout the contest. The best of the Kiwis in men’s singles was Richardson who made the final before falling to Hee in straight games.

Results:

Westpac New Zealand Junior International 2010.

New Zealand unless noted

Men’s singles semifinals:

Yong Kai Terry Hee(Singapore) bt Asher Richardson 21-13 24-22, Gerald Ong(Singapore) bt Hu-Wen Chew 21-12 21-6.

Final:

Hee bt Ong 21-12 4-21 21-14.

Women’s singles semifinals:

Tara Pilven(Australia) bt Verdet Kessler (Australia) 21-13 18-21 21-18, Victoria Cheng bt Louisa Ma(Australia) 19-21 22-20 21-17

Final:

Pilven bt Cheng 21-18 21-15.

Women’s doubles semifinals

Mary O’Connor/Madeleine Stapleton bt Angie Leung/Maria Masinipeni 23-21 21-14, Louisa Ma/Tara Pilven bt Anona Pak/Aviva Pak 21-11 16-21 21-13

Final:

O’Connor/Stapleton bt Ma/Pilven 21-14 21-13.

Men’s doubles semifinals:

Luke Charlesworth/Evan Lee bt Matthew Chau/Hu-Wen Chew(Australia) 21-11 21-15, Terry Hee/Gerald Ong(Singapore) bt Samuel Ho/Riga Oud 21-18 21-17.

Final:

Charlesworth/Lee bt Hee/Ong 23-21 21-19

Mixed semifinals:

Luke Charlesworth/Mary O’Connor bt Evan Lee/Victoria Cheng 21-19 21-16, Asher Richardson/Madeleine Stapleton bt Honesto Buendia/Tara Pilven 21-15 21-17

Final:

Charlesworth/O’Connor bt Richardson/Stapleton 21-17 20-22 21-19.