Badminton rankings do not mean much—selector

Press, 12 September 1986, Page 27

Badminton rankings do not mean much—selector

By

DAVID LEGGAT

The convenor of the national selectors, Murray Weatherston, probably got it dead right when assessing the New Zealand badminton rankings for the 1986 season. "The rankings don’t really mean that much,” he said. The reason they do not have much significance is that several top players, who would have been guaranteed places in the top five men and women, are overseas, and did not complete the criteria for a ranking. That criteria obliges players to compete in the national championships, one of the island championships, their own provincial event, the Wisden Cup provincial teams’ tournament and, if invited, the international Austin singles event. The Commonwealth Games

trio, Phil Home, Kerrin Harrison and Katrin Lockey, are overseas, as are Jane Clarke and Lynne Bignell, all of whom filled places last year. Linda Persson, the open women’s singles runner-up, was not eligible because she had turned down an invitation to compete in the Austin singles, while John Miles was not considered through injury. Given those considerations, the rankings contain few surprises. Julie Still jumped from sixth to second in the women’s list, Nicole Vipond confirmed her potential by being placed third, while one player, Rona Robertson, who did not compete at the national championships, but was runner-up to Vipond in the national under-18 singles final, was included in eighth

place. Rankings for 1986 are:— Men: G. Robson (Auck.) 1, G. Stewart (Auck.) 2, J. van Seim (Wait.) 3, R. Whittle (Auck.) 4, K. Ross (Wang.) 5, A. Welch (Hutt Valley) 6, C. Tapper (Wait.) 7, N. Skelt (South.) 8, D. Rae (South) 9, G. Choat (Nth Shore) and G. Cox (Nth Shore) equal 10. Women: T. Whittaker (Auck.) 1, J. Still (Otago) 2, N. Vipond (Wait.) 3, S. Henare (Auck.) 4, K. Phillips (Counties) 5, B. Roberts (Auck.) 6, M. Lee (Hutt Valley) 7, R. Robertson (Auck.) 8, T. McAlister (Auck.) 9, K. Hauer (Auck.) 10. Under-21, men: Choat 1, Rae and Cox equal 2, D. Cummins (Counties) 4. Under-21, women: Vipond 1, Roberts 2, Robertson and McAlister equal 3.