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Kiwis Struggle Against Australians In Badminton

Sunday 11 April 2010, 8:11PM

By Badminton New Zealand

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The Northern Region girls doubles pair of Maria Masinipeni and Lilian Shih won the only New Zealand title of the five on offer at the Australasian under-17 badminton championships in Perth, Western Australia to prevent a whitewash of titles by local players.

Masinipeni and Shih beat their Australian rivals of Gronya Smerville and Verdet Kessler in straight games in the girls final 21-17 21-14, however Shih wasn’t quite so lucky in the mixed final where she teamed up with Benny Suen but was defeated in straight games by Matt Chan and Louisa Ma.

Suen was also a beaten finalist in the boys doubles alongside Kerwyn Lee.

No Kiwis made it past the quartefinals of the singles in Perth.

In an event where New Zealand have traditionally dominated the performances in both the teams and the individual tournament showed the tide has turned this year with more finance and coaching being put towards the Australian players and the results following.

Meanwhile at the Altona Futures Series event in Victoria the best result by Kiwi players was a semifinal appearance by Loiuse Mckenzie and Emma Rodgers in a small women’s doubles draw.

American-born Kiwi Bjorn Seguin reached the singles quarters, but was one of only a handful of New Zealanders who took part in the event, despite most of Australia’s players being involved.

At the Auckland under19 tournament two of the countries rising stars, Luke Charlesworth(Waitakere) and Victoria Cheng(Auckland) won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively. Charlesworth had to fight hard to defeat Samuel Tiam Chin in three tight games in the final while top seed Cheng dominated the women’s draw and the final accounting for second seed, Poh Lin Teo 21-13 21-6 in the title decider.

Results:

Australasian under-17 Badminton Championships,

Perth

(New Zealand results)

Boys doubles final:

Ben Nie/Benedict Xu(Australia) bt Kerwyn Lee/Benny Suen 16-21 21-19 23-21

Girls doubles final:

Maria Masinipeni/Lilan Shih bt Gronya Smerville/Verdet Kessler 21-17 21-14,

Mixed final:

Matthew Chan/Louisa Ma(Australia) bt Benny Suen/Lilan Shih 21-16 21-18.

Altona Futures Series,

Victoria, Australia

(New Zealand results only).

Men’s singles quarterfinals:

Chad Whitehead(Australia) bt Bjorn Seguin 18-21 21-11 21-11

Men’s doubles quarterfinals:

Luke Chong(Australia)/Rahul Rampersad(Trinadad) bt Kevin Dennerly-Mintun/Maoni Hu Hu 21-17 21-11, Saliya Gunaratne(Australia)/Chad Whitehead(Australia) bt Michael Fowke/James Paterson 21-13 21-10

Women’s doubles quarterfinals:

Louise Mckenzie/Emma Rodgers bt Jacqueline Guan/Tara Pilven(Australia) 21-9 21-15

Semifinals:

He Tian Tang/Renuga Veeran(Australia) bt Louise Mckenzie/Emma Rodgers 21-7 21-9.

Mixed quarterfinals:

Chad Whitehead/Leanne Cho(Australia) bt Saliya Gunaratne(Australia)/Louise Mckenzie 21-14 21-17, Glen Warfe/Kate Wilson-Smith(Australia) bt Kevin Dennerly-Minturn/Emma Rodgers 21-14 21-9

Auckland under-19 Championships,

Gillies Ave, Epsom

Men’s singles final:

Luke Charlesworth(Waitakere) bt Samuel Tiam Chin(Auckland)16-21 21-12 21-15.

Women’s singles final:

Victoria Cheng(Auckland) bt Poh Lin Teo(Waikato) 21-13 21-6.

Women’s doubles final:

Michelle Chan(Counties Manukau)/Victoria Cheng(Auckland) bt Susannah Leydon-Davis(Waikato)/Mary O’Connor(Waitakere) 19-21 21-13 21-14.

Men’s doubles final:

Samuel Tiam Chin/Riga Oud(Auckland) bt Howard Shih-Kai Chou/Thomas Wong(Auckland) 21-16 21-17.

Mixed final:

Luck Charlesworth/Mary O’Connor(Waitakere) bt Riga Oud(Auckland)/Anona Pak(Nth Harbour) 16-21 21-18 21-17