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Kiwis Come Back Into Contention At Oceania Champs

Friday 26 February 2010, 8:32AM

By Badminton New Zealand

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INVERCARGILL

After struggling in the teams events against their Australian rivals, New Zealand badminton players are back with a vengeance in the Oceania Championships individual tournament being held at Stadium Southland, Invercargill.

The semifinal lineup for this afternoons men’s singles has a guaranteed Kiwi in the final and a chance at another with local player and tournament second seed James Eunson set to take on New Caledonia’s Marc Desaymoz. The other semi features Waikato’s Joe Wu against Michael Fowke, also from the Waikato with no Australians anywhere to be seen.

The women’s singles is a little different, but there is still a good opportunity for a Kiwi women to make the final as Jessica Jonggowisastro from North Harbour, who is returning to the game after a year off in 2009 for her studies.

Jonggowisastro defeated Australia’s Victoria Na in the quarters in straight games and now has another cross-Tasman battle as she faces Erica Pong, a winnable encounter. If she makes the final she will most likely take on Chia Chi Huang who is Taiwanese, but now the Australian coach. Huang defeated top seeded Michelle Chan in straight games in her quarterfinal and will play Leanne Choo(Australia) in the semis.

The mixed and doubles draws are still at the quarterfinal stages but should all have strong local representation in the final couple of rounds.

Top seeds Henry Tam and Donna Haliday look odds on to move through to the finals, but the bottom section of the draw has three difficult pairings with Eunson and Stephanie Cheng, Wu and Danielle Barry as well as Australians Glenn Warfe and Kate Wilson-Smith.

Wilson-Smith has teamed with countrywoman Choo in the women’s doubles to provide the biggest challenge for Haliday and Barry in a much anticipated semifinal clash.

The men’s doubles quarterfinals features three Australian pairs, a team from New Caledonia and five Kiwi combinations. Top seeds are Waikato’s Oliver Leydon-Davis and Auckland’s Tam. The main rivals for the title appear to be Australians Ross Smith and Warfe.

The Oceania Junior Championships start at 10am Friday with the Oceania Championship matches commencing from 3pm. Finals will be held Saturday.


Results;

(New Zealand unless noted)

Women’s singles quarterfinals;

Erica Pong(Australia) bt Tara Pilven(Australia) 21-11 21-6, Jessica Jonggowisastro bt Victoria Na(Australia) 21-17 21-16, Chia Chi Huang(Australia) bt (1)Michelle Chan 21-12 21-12, Leanne Choo(Australia) bt Madeleine Stapleton 21-12 21-7

Men’s singles quarterfinals;

(1)Joe Wu bt Jeff Tho(Australia) 21-12 19-21 22-20, Michael Fowke bt Asher Richardson 21-16 22-20, (2)James Eunson bt Brock Matheson 21-11 21-15, Marc Antoine Desaymoz(New Caledonia) bt Brendan Tieu(Australia) 21-13 21-18.