First Title For Southlander In Badminton - As Waikato Dominate Men's Competition

Southland’s Anna Rankin waited a long time, but finally gained her first ever national badminton title after winning the women’s singles at the New Zealand U23 National Championships held in Wellington.

The win comes after intensive training in recent months in Malaysia and Indonesia under the guide of Badminton Southland’s High Performance Coach Jiva Manoharan. Rankin, 19 who is currently based in Auckland had previously never made it past the quarter-finals in a national championships but kept her composure in the final against the more experienced Clare Chapple(Auckland). The first two games were close with Chapple winning the first 21-17 and Rankin the second 21-18 however Rankin ran away with the third 21-7 as Chapple made a number of unforced errors.

Rankin was also a semifinalist in the women’s doubles playing with Chapple, losing to the top seeds from Waitakere Mary O’Connor and Kritteka Gregory.

It was an all Waikato men’s singles final with Bjorn Seguin winning 21-13 21-17 over teammate Michael Fowke, who had earlier defeated the favoured James Eunson(Southland) in the semifinals. Waikato also had Reon McFarlane in the semifinals as well.

Nineteen-year-old Seguin is currently studying at Waikato University however is ineligible to be selected to represent New Zealand in an international team event or the Commonwealth Games as he currently does not have New Zealand citizenship. Seguin is eligible to play in international tournaments under the New Zealand banner; his programme will include events in New Zealand and Australia before playing in Europe at the end of the year.

Emma Rodgers(Auckland), Oliver Leydon-Davis (Waikato) and Seguin all won two titles. Rodgers won the mixed doubles and women’s doubles. Playing with Leydon-Davis in the mixed doubles they comfortably defeated Henry Tam(Auckland) and Danielle Barry(Waitakere). It was not so straight forward in the women’s doubles, Rodgers playing with Louise McKenzie, an Australian player recently moved to Auckland, defeated Mary O’Connor and Kritteka Gregory(Waitakere) 17-21 21-15 22-20.

Leydon-Davis and Seguin won the men’s doubles winning a three game match over Henry Tam and Delius Tang(Auckland) 18-21 21-19 21-13.

NZ Police U23 Championships 2009, Wellington.
Brentwood Hotel Men’s Singles semifinal:
Bjorn Seguin(Waikato) bt Rean McFarlane(Waikato) 21-13 21-8, Michael Fowke(Waikato) bt James Eunson(Southland), 21-17 21-12 .
Final:
Seguin bt Fowke 21-13 21-17 .
Women's Singles semifinals:
Clare Chapple(Auckland) bt Danielle Barry(Waitakere) 21-18 21-15, Anna Rankin(Southland) bt Gabryela Polak(Wanganui) 21-7 21-2.
Final:
Rankin bt Chapple 18-21 21-18 21-7 .
Koha Men's Doubles semifinals:
Henry Tam/Delius Tang(Auckland) bt Pavithar Gill/Matthew Ng(Otago) 21-13 21-16, Oliver Leydon-Davis/Bjorn Seguin(Waikato) bt Kevin Dennerly-Mintun/Kevin De Silva(Auckland) 21-11 18-21 21-17 .
Final
Leydon-Davis/Seguin bt Tam Tang 18-21 21-19 21-13 .
Women's Doubles semifinals:
Kritteka Gregory/Mary O’Connor(Waitakere) bt Clare Chapple(Auckland)/Anna Rankin(Southland) 21-13 21-19, Louise McKenzi/Emma Rodgers(Auckland) bt Emily Ang(Waitakere)/Stephanie Cheng(Auckland) 21-9 21-12.
Final
McKenzie/Rodgers bt Gregory/O’Connor 17-21 21-15 22-20 .
Wellington City Council Mixed Doubles
Henry Tam(Auckland)/Danielle Barry(Waitakere) bt Kevin Dennerly-Minturn/Louise McKenzie(Auckland) 20-22 21-17 21-19,
Oliver Leydon-Davis(Waikato)/Emma Rodgers(Auckland) bt James Eunson(Southland)/Stephanie Cheng(Auckland) 21-9 21-11 .
Final
Leydon-Davis/Rodgers bt Tam/Barry 21-18 21-14 .