Auckland again likely to dominate N.Z. badminton

Press, 4 August 1976, Page 24

Auckland again likely to dominate N.Z. badminton

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

While sporting hope always springs eternal, Canterbury cannot realistically expect to finish any higher than third at the national Wisden Cup badminton tournament, which begins in Auckland today. Auckland has dominated the tournament for more than a decade and it will be a major surprise if its two entries do not repeat their performances of the last few years of finishing first and second. There were signs at last year’s tournament in

Christchurch that the rest of the country was catching up a little on Auckland, but, in the meantime, the strength of its women players should ensure that it maintains its superiority for a few years yet.

The visiting teams will be encouraged by the fact that Auckland has lost — to Hutt Valley — the No. 2 ranked New Zealand man last season, Bryan Purser. With Purser and another New Zealand representative, John Compton, to lead its challenge, Hutt Valley will be a strong contender for third place.

Last year Canterbury beat Hutt Valley in the play-off for third and fourth and as they are again in separate. sections a replay is extremely likely. Auckland has also lost one of its leading women, Alison Gow, who has switched to Waitemata. However, it is more than compensated by the return from overseas of New Zealand's Robyn Denton.

The strength of the Auckland women is clearly shown by last year’s national ranking list; it provided six of the top eight players and with Mrs Denton back will be even stronger this year.

Canterbury will field much the same team as last year, with one notable exception. The transfer from Wellington to Christchurch of Glenys Waller has strengthened the women’s half of the team, although Mrs Waller has not been consistently play*

ing up to her best this season. The Canterbury selector (Mr John Patton) is confident that the team will perform just as well as last year and he does not entirely rule out the possibility of it upsetting one of the Auckland sides. “The addition of Glenys (who will play No. 2 in the singles behind Alison Ross) will give us greater depth in the women’s singles and our women’s doubles should also be stronger.” said Mr Patton. In addition, he believes the team, over-all, is fitter

than last year. Diane Erikson, who was unbeaten in the No. 4 position last year, will play No. 3 this time and Terri Perry drops a place to No. 4. A fifth woman, Christine Reay, will be employed in the doubles, both women’s and mixed. The men’s line-up is Peter Whiting, Geoff Miller, Warren Edgecumbe and Paul Boatwood, with Brian Williams the reserve. Whiting is certain to have a few tough battles, ■ but Miller and Edgecumbe should win more than they lose and Boatwood's experience will count heavily in his favour. Canterbury has a draw which should enable it to finish in the top two in its section. It plays Southland tonight (a team it convincingly beat two weeks ago), Wellington and Auckland blue on Friday and Central Districts on Saturday morning. The only problem might be in having to play Auckland a few hours after Wellington, the only other team likely to test Canterbury in the section rounds.