S.L badminton titles in Chch

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 60

S.L badminton titles in Chch

Alison Sinton, of Auckland, is likely to win the South Island women’s badminton championship , title northwards after Sunday's final at the Skellerup Hall. The 25-year-old New Zealand representative should have too many guns for the Christchurch contingent headed by the Canterbury champion, Alison Ross. Miss Ross is seeded behind Miss Sinton for the tournament, which gets fully underway today, while Oamaru’s Diane Erikson, the 1980 national champion, and Jane Clarke, are seeded third and fourth respectively. Steve Wilson, the thirdranked New Zealand player, is the firm favourite for the men’s title, although he could be tested by Wanganui’s Kevin Ross. A hard-working “retriever,”" Ross was ranked

sixth in New Zealand last year and reached the final of a singles competition in the Hutt Valley earlier this season. He has been likened in badminton circles to the famed ultra-distance runner, Max Telford, for the amount of running his defensive style makes him do on the court. The main opposition for these two will come from’ Christchurch’s Peter Whiting and David Ross, with the Qtago representative, Mike Lindsay, a possible “dark horse.” Wilson and Whiting are the top seeds for the men’s doubles, with Ross and a Wanganui colleague, ■ lan Lane, likely to meet them in the final. Miss Sinton and Miss Clarke could be hardpressed to win the women’s doubles in the face of competition from Miss Erikson and Miss Ross.