Badminton: The team who have the Aussies licked

By JULIE ASH

While most Kiwi sports teams are struggling with ways to beat the Aussies, the New Zealand badminton team seem to have it mastered.

The New Zealand team beat Australia in all three tests in the past week to claim the transtasman Whyte Trophy for the third consecutive time.

The trophy is one of the oldest transtasman sporting awards. It is now competed for every two years, with the venue alternating between the two countries.

The series consists of three tests, each of five matches - men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles.

Kiwi No 1 Rhona Robertson said it was always particularly satisfying to beat the Australians.

"It was especially good to have won 3-0 this time," she said.

Australia won the first Whyte Trophy series in Wellington in 1938. They won it again in 1939, then the competition lapsed for 10 years because of the Second World War.

Australia won it again in 1949, and New Zealand captured it for the first time in 1950.

Both countries have won the trophy four consecutive times each, Australia in 1955, 1957, 1959 and 1961 and New Zealand in 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1969.

Robertson played in her first Whyte Trophy series in 1989 and believes New Zealand now have a better depth of players than Australia. "We have got good development programmes and our structure is a lot better than theirs.

"We have national junior development squads and national squads who all feed into each other and into the New Zealand team."

She said Australia also went through a period where they imported a lot of Asian and Indonesian players.

"They haven't got a lot of depth because of that," Robertson said. "They spoiled it by bringing in too many imports.

"They have also changed coaches a lot lately."

The next Whyte Trophy is in Australia in 2003, the year after the Commonwealth Games.

Robertson would like to see New Zealand equal their record of four consecutive wins, but isn't promising anything.

"It could be a totally new team," she said.

"Some of us oldies may have given up by then."