Badminton: Kiwis miss out on coveted singles wins

By DAVE WORSLEY

Local players won two titles at the New Zealand International, at North Harbour, but missed out on the key singles victory they wanted.

Auckland's Rebecca Gordon was the only New Zealander to make a singles final, her fifth this year, but was outclassed on the vital shots by her Taiwanese opponent.

Gordon, ranked 38 in the world, faced top seed Chia Chi Huang, ranked 37, who had not been pressured the whole tournament.

Huang upped the tempo for the final and after a see-saw battle early on came away with the first set 15-6.

In the second set Gordon looked likely to pressure her opponent more, but again struggled to hit winners against her mobile opponent, who won the set and match 15-7.

For Gordon, 26, it was a repeat of last year's NZ International final where she lost to a Japanese opponent.

Gordon did gain one title when she teamed with fellow-Kiwi Rachel Hindley to defeat Waitakere's Gabby Shirley and Auckland's Renee Flavell in straight games.

In the mixed final, New Zealand international team members Craig Cooper and Lianne Shirley won their second international title this year by beating Australians Boyd Cooper and Susan Dobson in straight games.

The men's singles final contained no Kiwis after third seed John Moody from North Harbour and fourth seed Geoff Bellingham of Waitakere were beaten in the quarters.

A pumped up Andrew Smith from England beat top seed Yuichi Ikeda of Japan in straight games to take the men's title.

Smith, ranked 55 and seeded second, defeated Ikeda 15-0, 15-8, racing through the first set with such speed that Ikeda looked shellshocked.

The Japanese player managed a 4-2 lead in the second set, but his game was uncharacteristically error-ridden and he let the set slip away for the whole match to be over in 24 minutes.