New Zealand Whyte Trophy Team Comfirmed

The New Zealand Badminton Whyte Trophy team has been confirmed for the bi-annual clash with Australia. In a different format to previous occasions the contest will be a one-off in Melbourne on Wednesday of this week. Traditionally it has been a best of three tie series

The format is one men's singles, one women's singles, women's doubles, men's doubles and mixed doubles. The newcomer to the New Zealand side is Waikato player Amanda Brown 20 who has proven herself in domestic tournaments recently with some good results in singles.

Brown is part of a relatively inexperienced team with an eye for the future. She joins Auckland's Stephanie Cheng who is likely to specialise in the doubles and mixed doubles along with Anna Rankin(Southland) who should play the singles contest. New Zealand's top women’s singles player Michelle Chan is unavailable as she is competing in Europe at present.

The men's part of the team consists of Southland's James Eunson who will be favoured to play the singles with Oliver Leydon-Davis(Waikato) and Auckland's Kevin Dennerly-Minturn specialising in the doubles and mixed doubles. The team is coached by Thana Arikrishnan who currently is based out of Invercargill

New Zealand won the Whyte Trophy when it was last held in 2009, however Australia with their team of Jeff Tho, Ross Smith and Glenn Warfe in the men's and Leanne Choo, Victoria Na and Renuga Veeran will be favourites this time.

Members from both teams will then compete in the Altona International Series event in Melbourne this weekend.

New Zealand badminton team for the 2011 Whyte Trophy:

James Eunson (Southland), Oliver Leydon-Davis (Waikato), Kevin Dennerly-Minturn (Auckland), Amanda Brown (Waikato), Anna Rankin (Southland), Stephanie Cheng (Auckland)

Coach: Thana Arikrishnan