BADMINTON SEEDINGS English hold top places

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33434, 16 January 1974, Page 28

BADMINTON SEEDINGS English hold top places

England is set to dominate the badminton events at the Commonwealth Games, judging by the individual seedings announced yesterday.

It has been seeded top in four of the five events, and fills half of the 24 seedings.

A clean sweep by the English was stopped only by the defending men’s singles champion, J. Paulson (Canada). New Zealand gained only one seed, the men’s captain, R. H. Purser, at No. 8 in the singles. But if things go right for Purser, there will be a replay of the quarter-final match at Edinburgh when Purser was beaten by Paulson. They are again drawn in the same quarter. UNHELPFUL DRAW The draw was also made yesterday — and it did not favour Purser. Among the eight seeds for the men’s singles, only three reached the quarter-finals at Edinburgh with the New Zealander, P. Pradkone (India), Tan Aik Mong (Malaysia) and R. Stevens (England) have been seeded ahead of him, although they did not compete at Edinburgh.

In the men’s singles, 24 players were drawn to have byes in the first round, the lucky ones including the eight seeded players and the New Zealander, W. B. Johns, who was a late inclusion in the event, having replaced J. W. S. Compton. The seedings are:—

Purser has a hard match against M. Tredgett in the first round of singles, and he and his brother, Bryan, meet ’the top seeds, D. Talbot and E. C. Stuart (England), in their first game in the doubles. FORMER TEAM-MATES

An interesting feature is that the New Zealander, R. Livingston, who represented Australia at Edinburgh, will meet two of his former teammates, P. Tyrell and J. Clancy, in the first round of the doubles. One of the main clashes of

the first day will be the matching of Paulson and R. S. McCoig, who has represented Scotland more than 50 times and is competing in his third Games tournament.

Another twist in the draw is that the Australian champion, Mrs J. Nyirati, will (probably play the top seed, Miss M. Beck (England), in the second round of the women’s singles. They met in the quarter-finals at Edinburgh, and Miss Beck went on to win the gold medal.

DEFENDED TITLES Winners of the gold medals at Edinburgh in the [men's and women’s doubles, and the mixed doubles, will be defending their titles. However, this time two combinations are different. P. Gunalan (Malaysia) will be playing with Soong Chok Soon, and they have been seeded second. The winning combination of Talbot and Miss M. Boxall (England) at Edinburgh has been split, and Talbot is partnered by Mrs M. A. Gilks.

Men’s singles.—Paulson 1. Talbot 2, P. Whetnail (England! 3, Gunalan 4, Pradkone 5. Tan Aik Mong 6, Stevens 7, R. H. Purser 8.

Women’s singles.—Miss Beck 1, Mrs Gilks 2‘. Miss N. McKinley (Canada) 3, Miss S. Ng (Malaysia)

Men’s doubles.—Talbot and Stuart 1, Gunalan and Soong 2, Stevens and Tredgett 3, McCoig and F. D. Gow (Scotland; 4. Women’s doubles.—Miss Beck and Mrs Gilks 1, Mrs S. Whetnail and Miss Boxall (England) 2, Mrs M. Nilsson and Mrs J. Rollick (Canada) 3, Miss Ng and Miss R. S. Ang (Malaysia) 4.

Mixed doubles.—Talbot and Mrs Gilks 1. P. Whetnall and Miss N. Gardner (England) 2, Stuart and Mrs Whetnall 3. Gow and Mrs C. Stewart (Scotland) 4.