Games badminton pairings

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33383, 15 November 1973, Page 26

Games badminton pairings

Three pairings new to international competition have been named in the badminton nominations for the individual events at next year’s Commonwealth Games.

The second men’s doubles i nomination, R. Livingston and W. Johns (Auckland), and the mixed doubles pairings of Johns and Mrs G. Waller (Wellington), and Livingston and Mrs G. Weatherley (Auckland), did not play together in national tournaments this year. The national selectors, Miss N. Fleming (Wellington, convener), Messrs J. E. Robson

(Auckland) and P. D. Skelt (Invercargill), decided on the pairings and singles players at the week-end practice, and they were announced yesterd'v. The selector’s national rankings for 1973 were also announced. The main surprise is that Mrs Waller, one of five women nominated for the Games team, has been ranked only eighth in the women’s singles, after being third last year. . In selecting the individual nominations, the selectors have named the maximum number of entries allowed in the Games tournament — eight singles players, four men and four women, and

two pairings in the men’s and women’s doubles and four pairings in the mixed doubles.

The present national champion, R. H. Purser (New Plymouth), this year’s runner-up, Livingston, B. R. Purser (Auckland), and J. W. Compton (Wellington) are the men’s singles players. The women’s singles nominations are Mrs A. Branfield (Auckland), the present New Zealand champion, Mrs R. Denton (Auckland), Mrs F. Erceg (Auckland) and Mrs Weatherley. As expected, the Purser brothers, and the sisters, Mesdames Branfield and Denton, have been paired for the

men’s and women’s doubles; R. H. Purser and Mrs Branfield, and the younger combination, B. R. Purser and Mrs Denton, were named for the mixed doubles. Between them, the family combinations have won 12 national doubles titles. The senior rankings were: Men.—R. H. Purser 1, Livingston 2. B. R. Purser 3, Compton 4, P. Shirley (Auckland) 5. Johns 8, Gloyn 7, P. Ellis (Hawke’s Bay) 8, J. Rowe (Wellington) 9, I. Williams (Taranaki) 10. Women. —Mrs Branfield 1, Mrs Erceg 2, Mrs Denton 3, Mrs Weatherley 4, Mrs Stevens 5, Miss C. Olsen (Auckland) 6, Miss G. Tompkins (Wellington) 7, Mrs Waller 8 Mrs H. Neame (Wellington) 9', Mrs Dawson 10.