Kiwis Take Three Out Of Five Titles At International

Southland’s James Eunson won his first international badminton title with a victory in the men’s singles at the Crown Power Tools Canterbury International in Christchurch on Sunday as Kiwi players took away three out of the five titles on offer.

Without a number of key New Zealand players taking the trip to Christchurch Eunson was able to take advantage of the draw and eventually defeated Waikato’s Bjorn Seguin who turned 20 on the day of the final.

Seguin, is an American has been trying unsuccessfully to gain his Kiwi passport despite living in New Zealand for a number of years and being one of the nations best badminton players.

The final looked like it was going Seguin's way as he won the first game 21-19 and then led 17-13 in the second game determined Eunson fought back forcing Seguin into a number of errors to win the second game. Eunson always looked in control of the third game as the effects of spending a lot of time on court over the past few days took their toll on Seguin with Eunson winning the third game 21-18 to claiam his first international title.

In the women’s final Australian Erica Pong defeated 16-year-old Aucklander Victoria Cheng 21-11 21-14.

The mixed final had the experienced pair of Donna Haliday and Joe Wu against the much younger pair of Oliver Leydon-Davis(Waikato) and ex Australian LouiseMckenzie. Halliday usually partners Henry Tam in competitions and they have a current world ranking of 26 which has them in Commonwealth Games contention, but with Tam absent she was still expected to win the title with Wu.

However it was the younger pair who came away 19-21 21-19 25-23 winners in 46 minutes.

The women’s finals saw Emma Chapple and Stephanie Cheng up against their sisters, Clare Chapple and Victoria Cheng with Emma and Stephanie the victors in straight games.

The American team of Daniel Gouw and Arnold Setiadi won the men’s doubles over Leydon-Davis and Seguin 21-19 21-19.

A number of Kiwi players now travel to Victoria for the Altona Future series tournament this week.

Results:

Crown Power Tools Canterbury Badminton International:

Men’s semifinals:

Bjorn Seguin bt Nelson Oon(Australia) 21-17 15-21 22-20, James Eunson bt Daniel Gouw(USA) 22-20 22-20.

Final

Eunson bt Seguin 19-21 21-18 21-18.

Women’s singles semifinal

Ercia Pong(Australia) bt Clare Chapple Victoria 21-11 21-13, Cheng bt Anna Rankin 21-18 11-21 21-19

Final

Pong bt Cheng 21-11 21-14

Mixed doubles final:

Oliver Leydon-Davis/Louise Mckenzie bt Joe Wu/Donna Haliday 19-21 21-19 25-23

Men’s doubles final:

Daniel Gouw(USA)/Arnold Setiadi(USA) bt Oliver Leydon-Davis/Bjorn Seguin 21-19 21-19

Women’s doubles final:

Emma Chapple/Sephanie Cheng bt Clare Chapple/Victoria Cheng 21-15 21-13