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Kiwis Stopped By Australia In Finals

Sunday 21 February 2010, 5:46PM

By Dave Worsley

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INVERCARGILL

The New Zealand badminton sides bid to make the Thomas and Uber Cup world badminton teams finals in Malaysia in May were stopped by a renewed and experienced presence from Australia at the qualifying tournament held at Stadium Southland in Invercargill over the weekend.

The Kiwi women in the Uber Cup came agonizingly close, losing 2-3 to Australia in the women’s final after their trans-Tasman rivals had bought back a number of former players out of retirement or in from other nations.

The men’s team in the Thomas Cup weren’t able to score a win in their 0-5 loss to Australia in the final and again showed a complete lack of depth compared to their opponents who had also bought in imports from overseas and several players out of retirement with the Commonwealth Games in mind. Whereas, New Zealand is suffering from retirement of players, no national coach and potentially no team at the Commonwealth Games.

The women’s side had an opportunity to gain an upset in their final, especially after North Harobur’s Jessica Jonggowisastro won the No2 singles in an hours play 28-26 in the third game over Leanne Choo and with Southland’s Anna Rankin winning the third singles the Kiwis led 2-1 going into the doubles matches against the highly rated Aussie pairings.

Unfortunately for the locals the Australian combination proved too strong in both doubles sealing the win and valuable Commonwealth Games ranking points

In the men’s final only Southland’s James Eunson was able to provide real opposition on the scoreboard as he took Stuart Gomez to three, 22-20 in the final game at No3 in just under an hour.

The Oceania Mixed Team Championships, the Robson Shield competition started on Sunday with the home team aiming to get one back over the Australians and starting with a 5-0 victory over New Caledonnia while Australia beat Tahiti 5-0. The two sides are expected to meet in Monday’s final before the Oceania Junior and Individual Championships from Wednesday through Saturday 27 February.

Results:

Uber Cup final (women):

Australia 3 New Zealand 2

(Australian names first)

Chia Chi Huang bt Michelle KY Chan 21-15 21-9,

Leanne Choo lt Jessica Jonggowisastro 19-21 25-23 26-28,

Erica Pong lt Anna Rankin 20-22 15-21

Huang/Rosy He Tian Tang bt Donna Haliday/Danielle Barry 21-8 21-6,

Kate Wilson-Smith/Eugenia Tanaka bt Chan/Jonggowisastro 21-13 21-9

Thomas Cup final (men):

Australia 5 New Zealand 0

(Australian names first)

Men’s singles

Jeff Tho bt Joe Wu 22-20 21-13,

Stuart Gomez bt James Eunson 18-21 21-13 22-20

Stuart Brehaut bt Oliver Leydon-Davis 21-14 21-12

Men’s doubles

Glenn Warfe/Ross Smith bt Henry Tam/Oliver Leydon-Davis 21-9 21-14

Raj Veeran/Jeff Tho bt Wu/Dennerly-Minturn 21-14 21-11.

Oceania Teams Championships(mixed)

New Zealand 5 New Caledonia 0

(New Zealand names first)

Men’s singles, Joe Wu bt Marc Antoine Desaymoz 21-12 21-13

Women’s singles, Anna Rankin bt Johanna Kou 21-18 21-13

Men’s doubles, Oliver Leydon-Davis/Henry Tam bt Desaymoz/sebastien Arias 21-4 21-8,

Women’s doubles, Danielle Barry/Donna Haliday bt Cecile Kaddour/Kou 21-9 21-8

Mixed, Tam/Haliday bt Fabien Kaddour/Valerie Sarengat 21-6 21-13