The national badminton championships start tomorrow in Auckland with one player determined to show age is no barrier to winning.
Last year TJ Weistra became the first Kiwi to claim a BWF (Badminton World Federation) title when he won the over-35 world championships in Canada. The 36-year-old was also a beaten finalist in the national championships, when he defeated a number of players in their twenties before his run was stopped by Dan Shirley.
This time he is even more determined to win the New Zealand title, but isn't going to have things all his own way.
"It's a really difficult draw,'' the Dutch-born player said. "I could have Joe [Wu] in the quarters in the morning and maybe James [Eunson] in the evening on Saturday. I'm fitter and lighter than last year, but I'm going to have to rely on my courtcraft to help out against these younger guys.
"In many ways, I shouldn't be making finals of tournaments like this, so I think that as a coach I'm almost hoping that the guys will beat me... but I'm not going to roll over for them.''
