Battling for badminton titles

Press, 20 July 1984, Page 17

Battling for badminton titles

DAVID LEGGAT

Nigel Skelt, of Southland, is an accomplished, gritty badminton player, but he has yet to capture the Canterbury singles title. That state of affairs could end tomorrow evening when the finals of the 1984 event are contested at the Skellerup Hall.

He was a semi-finalist in the last two years, going down to Peter Whiting in 1982 and to the gifted Auckland left-hander, Glen Stewart, last winter. Now, however, the time is right for Skelt to prove himself the best singles exponent in the South Island.

He has been given the top seeding for the championships, which begin tonight, ahead of Canterbury’s two most promising players, Prasanna Gulasekharam, who is seeded to meet Skelt in the final, and Shane Tetai, with the Waitemata player, Chris Tapper, ranked fourth.

Gulasekharam played particularly well at the Wisden Cup national championships last month, when he had to fill the demanding top position. Certainly he has the determination and

skill to fully test Skelt. Tetai, who won three titles at the national junior championships in Christchurch last year, has been handicapped both by injury in recent weeks, and by playing for the South Brighton No. I team in the interclub competition, which has defaulted the last four rounds of play. He will, however, have a point to prove.

Of the women, Alison Ross has again been seeded to take the singles title. If

she does, it will be her seventh provincial open crown in 11 finals. She has dominated the sport in Canterbury for years. Her first Canterbury singles title was way back in 1972. She then won it again in four consecutive years from 1974, before losing two successive finals to her toughest opponent at provincial level, Diane Erikson.

Miss Ross was away in 1980, but had an easy success the following year. In the last two championships, however, she has not found the going so straight forward as that 11-4, 11-1 win over Rosey Askew in 1981. Two years ago, Miss Ross

went down in three games to the Hutt Valley international, Margaret Lee, and last Augnst lost a final that should have been hers to Miss Erikson. Leading, 10-5, in the third,

Miss Ross inexplicably let her powerful opponent back into the match, and con< ceded four successive points to lose, 10-12. Miss Erikson is absent this year, but there is a new rival for Miss Ross to overcome, in Jane Clarke. Miss Clarke has shown considerable potential in recent months. She bad an outstanding Wisden Cup, losing just one singles match, to the North Shore international, Katrin Lockey, and was unbeaten in doubles play with Miss Ross. Miss Ross is ranked sixth in New Zealand, and Miss Clarke tenth. But the experienced Hagley woman would be well advised to reach her championship peak in the final.