Waikato Take National Badminton Title

Despite being significantly delayed by weather conditions inside a sports venue the Waikato Wisden Cup badminton team were able to finally win the prestigious inter-provincial competition after being runner-up for the past three years.

Humidity made the wooden courts at the Waikato Badminton Centre in Hamilton too slippery and too difficult to play on, but Waikato were able to maintain their unbeaten record and after some research by officials it was discovered the province had actually won the competition before, but that was in 1937, just a few years after the tournament had started. Waikato were able to fulfill the dream of their late President Peter Icke who passed away in 2006 after he had put into place a plan to improve the sport in the region and had hired the first full time coach all with the aim of winning the Wisden Cup.

Going into the final round of the round robin competition Waikato were the only unbeaten team as Waitakere were surprisingly defeated earlier in the week by Auckland I, however this did not stop Waitakere from going all out in an effort to defeat Waikato. It took five and a half hours and finished with a 9-7 victory to the hosts.

New national singles title holder TJ Weistra was at the forefront of the victory with a win in singles over Ethan Haggo, then a victory in doubles teaming with Joe Wu to beat Haggo and Luke Charlesworth. Weistra also combined with Susannah Leydon-Davis to score a third win of the final beating Charlesworth and Danielle Barry in the mixed.

For Waitakere former World Champs medalist Dan Shirley won all three of his matches, beating Bjorn Seguin in singles, winning his doubles with another former international, Nick Hall and partnering Kritteka Gregory for a mixed win.

Former world top 10 ranked singles player Tracey Hallam from England played for Waikato throughout the tournament and won her singles match against Jin Ah Kim in straight sets in the final round robin against Waitakere.

In other matches the top Auckland side defeated North Harbour 12-4 to gain second place while Southland had a win over the Auckland second side on a countback.

In the Slazenger Cup Canterbury defeated Wellington North to win the Slazenger competition and gain promotion to Wisden Cup in 2011. Otago defeated Waikato 2 9-7 to finish second and Bay of Plenty left their only win of the tournament to the last day as they defeated North Harbour 2 9-7.

Wisden Cup Final Placings: Waikato, 1, Auckland(1) 2, Waitakere, 3, North Harbour, 4, Southland, 5, Auckland(2) 6.

Waikato bt Waitakere 9-7, Southland bt Auckland(2) 8-8(countback), Auckland(1) bt North Harbour 12-4.

Slazenger Cup Final Placings: Canterbury, 1, Otago, 2, Wellington North, 3, Waikato, 4, Bay of Plenty, 5 North Harbour, 6.

Slazenger Cup results:

Waikato bt BOP 8-8 (countback), Canterbury bt Wellington North 10-6, BOP bt North Harbour 9-7, Otago bt Waikato 9-7.