Two players dominate juniors championships
By
David Leggat
Shane Tetai of Canterbury and Waikato’s Robyn Stephens turned the finals of the national junior badminton championships at the Skellerup Hall on Saturday into a personal party by winning all five titles between them in the space of four hours.
Each player won their respective singles titles, and Tetai combined with Mark Wehi of Southland for the boys doubles, while Miss Stephens and Otago’s Julie Still shared a remarkable girls doubles victory. Miss Stephens rounded off an excellent week-end by taking the mixed doubles event, with Glenn Cox of North Shore.
Tetai, seeded second, had to come from behind to beat a determined Viaola Va’eau of Wellington in the boys singles final. He had a set point in the opening game, lost it, and went down, 1817.
Racing to an 8-2 advantage in the second set, Tetai then made a succession of errors to allow his opponent to level at 8-8 and again at 10-10.
However, two cracking winners set Tetai up for a 15-10 win. He produced some fine shots throughout and made no race of the deciding set. Va’eau, having performed gamely with a leg injury, was guilty of several wayward shots, but could be happy with his over-all display, having earlier eliminated the top seed, Sean Midgley of Counties, in the semi-finals.
The evenness of the girls singles competition could be judged by the appearance of
the third and fifth seeds in the final. The top seed, Colleen Hellyer of Counties, and the second seed, Otago’s Julie Still, had been beaten by the fifth and sixth seeds respectively. However, Miss Stephens — the third seed — had no difficulties in accounting for for her provincial teammate, Marlene Landon, 11-4, 11-2. She produced a succession of cleverly-angled winners and kept her opponent on the defensive for most of the brief encounter.
Miss Landon did not help her chances by making far too many unforced errors, particularly during the second set, when it was imperative that she keep the shuttle in play. It seemed she gave up midway through the second set. Tetai and Wehi overcame Cox and Lance Little of North Shore in the boys doubles final. They dropped the second set, in setting, but always looked the more purposeful combination. If Miss Stephens hardly had to sweat in winning the girls singles title, she more
than made up for it in the doubles final.
Having lost the opening set, 18-14, to Miss Landon and Miss Hellyer, she, and her partner, Miss Still, regained control to take the second comfortably. At 14-3, in the third, Miss Hellyer and Miss Landon, the top seeds, had the title within easy reach. But, surviving several match points, Miss Stephens and Miss Still battled their way steadily back to level, 14-14. Even then, Miss Hellyer and Miss Landon had another match point at 16-14, before being pipped, 17-16, in the most astonishing fightback of the championship. After the drama of the girls doubles, the mixed final was comparatively tame. Cox and Miss Stephens, seeded second, were too strong for the top seeds, Tetai and Miss Landon. Results.—
Boys singles final: S. Tetai (Canterbury) beat V. Va’eau (Wellington), 17-18,15-10,15-2. Girls singles final: R. Stephens (Waikato) beat M. Landon (Waikato), 11-4, 11-2. Boys doubles final: Tetai and M. Wehi (Southland) beat G. Cox and L. Little (both North Shore), 15-10, 14-17, 15-6.
Girls doubles final: Miss Stephens and J. Still (Otago) beat Miss Landon and C. Hellyer (Counties), 15-18, 15-4, 17-16.
Mixed doubles final: Cox and Miss Stephens beat Tetai and Miss Landon, 15-12, 15-5. Boys plate: R. Mitchell (Canterbury) beat T. Daly (Oroua), 18-17, 15-10. Girls plate: S. Wilson (Auckland) beat M. Stanford (Auckland), 11-5, 6-11, 11-4.
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