Badminton: Kiwis into semi-finals

New Zealand competitors have made the semifinals of four of the five events at the Auckland Badminton International, despite the strength of players from badminton stronghold Taipei.

TJ Weistra, the current New Zealand men's singles champion, made the last four of the men's draw after a straight sets win over one of Australia's best, Luke Chong. Weistra will now play Taipei's Chien Cheng Lai for a spot in the final.

Top seed James Eunson from Southland was beaten in a tough quarter-final, losing in three sets to Welshman Raj Popat 25-23 in the third game. Popat will now play Cheng Po Wei (Taipei) in the other semifinal after Wei had earlier beaten Kiwi Joe Wu in straight games in his quarter-final.

In the women's singles, former Commonwealth Games medallist Tracey Hallam (England) is through to the final four with three Taipei players. Hallam beat Australia's Tara Pilven in straight games in her quarter-final and will play Yu Chieh Cheng.

Hallam is also in the semifinals of the mixed doubles after teaming up with Auckland-based Englishman Tom Armstrong. They take on the Welsh/Indonesian pair of Popat and Devi Tika Permatasari.

The other semifinal features Waikato brother and sister Oliver and Susannah Leydon-Davis, who won 22-20 in the third game over Taipei combination Chien Cheng Lai and Ching Chieh Tai and will Australians Chong and Victoria Na.

New Zealanders have dominated the men's doubles. Top seeds Kevin Dennerly-Minturn and Leydon-Davis take on New Zealand's Robert Batty and Fijian partner Burty Molia in one match while the young pair of Samuel Ho and Riga Oud face the experienced team of Armstrong (England) and Weistra.

Southland's Anna Rankin and Auckland's Carmen Yuen will play the Indonesian combination of Nurvita Hanadia Keshya and Devi Tika Permatasari in tomorrow's women's semifinals while Amanda Brown (Waikato) and Kritteka Gregory (Waitakere) face the Taipei team of Ting Yin Chen and Ching Chieh Tai for a place in the finals.