Badminton: Oldie keen on NZ badminton title

James Eunson. Photo / Dean Purcell.

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.''

The top seed for the three-day tournament which starts tomorrow at the Auckland Badminton Stadium is James Eunson from Southland. Eunson was a member of the New Zealand Thomas Cup men's team which recently upset Australia to gain a place in the world finals, which is for the top-12 nations to be held in China in May.

In the women's singles, top seed is Southland's Anna Rankin who looks to be on target to face Waikato's Amanda Brown in one semifinal. If things go to plan in the bottom half of the draw, top Auckland junior Lilian Shih will most likely play North Harbour's second seed Anona Pak who won all three titles in the under-19 championships last year.