Badminton juniors praised

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32564, 25 March 1971, Page 22

Badminton juniors praised

Such is the potential of several of Canterbury’s junior players that the province should be able to improve its standing in national badminton in the near future. This is the opinion of New Zealand’s .first full-time rtational badminton coach, Mr Eddie Ng Boon Ooh, of Malaysia, who has been in Christchurch giving tuition to coaches and leading senior and junior players. “The potential of juniors in Canterbury is just as good as anywhere else in the country," Mr Ng said. He named the young North Beach senior players, P. Whiting, the South Island junior champion, and Miss A. Ross as fine prospects. The 29-year-old Mr Ng represented Malaysia in schoolboy internationals and is a Grade I coach at home. His 18-month contract with the New Zealand federation, under the sponsorship of Rothmans, has been extended by 12 months to two years and a half.

He was especially impressed with the Canterbury association’s organisation of his coaching classes and the playing facilities available.

“My itinerary here has been really good, with a certain number of top seniors and juniors, I can see their faults, < try to correct them, and allow the players to use correstive practice after I have gone,” he said. “Skellerup Hall is one of the best in the country too. The lighting and height of the ceiling are good and a player can come here and play whenever he likes, which is not so in many other centres.” Mr Ng, who will spend most of this year in the South Island before returning to Hastings during the off-sea-son, maintains that leading players must play more badminton during the summer if the standard in New Zealand is to improve rapidly. “I have just had the best

juniors in New Zealand in Hastings for six days, and you should have heard some of the excuses for not being fit. "By the time some of them get into top condition, the season is almost over. They can play other sports like tennis and squash, but they

should not rest for too long in the summer,.” However, his over-ail impression of New Zealand badminton standards is that the juniors are almost as good as those in the Asian countries.

“One boy I had in Hastings, Phillip Ellis, has the best potential of any junior I have seen. One of my recommendations to the national federation was that he should be Sent overseas to gain international experience.”. The only complaint Mr Ng had about badminton in the Dominion was the dearth of first class rackets available to leading players. “I have been besieged with requests to obtain lighter rackets because the only ones available in New Zealand are made to last and are therefore heavier. “The top players should use light rackets because they lack a good back-hand With a heavy one. When I give them by racket to use, they can do it so easily."