New Zealand Team All Enter U23 Champs In Waikato

The New Zealand under23 Badminton national championships get underway tomorrow (Friday) at the Waikato Badminton Centre with some of nations best players taking part. In fact the entire trans-Tasman Whyte Trophy New Zealand team will be competing in the individual draws and team events.

Top seed in the men’s singles is Waikato-based American Bjorn Seguin ahead of Waitakere player Luke Charlesworth with James Eunson seeded third. Other notable players in the draw are Kevin Dennerly-Minturn who was a member of the Whyte Trophy team and Canterbury teenager Asher Richardson the New Zealand under19 championship winner and former Kiwi junior rep player Ethan Haggo(Waitakere) returning to top badminton.

Waikato player Amanda Brown is the women’s singles top seed with Auckland’s Kylie Luo second and others such as Anona Pak(North Harbour) who won all three titles at the under19 champs, Southland’s Anna Rankin and former champion Jessica Jonggowisastro in the draw.

The women’s doubles is strong as it has Luo and Stephanie Cheng as a seeded team while former Australian Louise McKenzie and Emma Chapple could also be contenders for the title.

In the men’s doubles Oliver Leydon-Davis and Eunson will be the team targeted as the favourites. The mixed doubles draw features a number of top combinations including Seguin and Susannah Leydon-Davis as well as Whyte Trophy pair Dennerly-Minturn and Stephanie Cheng.

The individual championships start from 6pm Friday through until the 11am finals on Sunday. The teams events featuring six regions start on Monday at the same venue until the final matches on Wednesday 6 July.

Regions playing for the Richard Purser Trophy are North Harbour, Auckland, Waitakere, Waikato-BOP, Central and Mainland.