Badminton: Waikato's Fowke makes semifinals

Waikato's Michael Fowke has won through to the men's singles semifinals at the Altona badminton international in Melbourne after scoring an upset win in the quarterfinals.

Fowke, 20, beat Malaysia's Khek Mong Ho 21-17 23-21 in 32 minutes to gain a place in the semifinals where he will now face Australian seed Hoe Keat Oon.

The other New Zealand player in the men's singles quarters was Southland's James Eunson who lost to Malaysia's Yogendran Krishnan in straight games.

In the men's doubles the pairing of Kevin Dennerly-Minturn(Auckland) and Oliver Leydon-Davis(Waikato) had a three game victory over the Australian pair of Wesley Caulkett and Raymond Tan to secure a place in the semifinals.

They take on Australians Michael Fariman and Tran Hoang in the semis, who had earlier beaten Kiwi Joe Wu and his Australian partner Hung Le Pham in three games.

Also making the semifinals was the Waikato and Auckland women's doubles combination of Amanda Brown and Stephanie Cheng.

New Zealand results from the second day of the Altona international badminton tournament at Melbourne:

Men's singles quarterfinals:
Michael Fowke bt Khek Mong Ho(Malaysia) 21-17 23-21, Yogendran Krishnan (Malaysia) bt James Eunson 21-16 21-12.

Men's doubles quarterfinals:

Michael Fariman/Tran Hoang Pham (Australia) bt Hung Le Pham(Australia)/Joe Wu(New Zealand) 19-21 21-19 21-11, Kevin Dennerly-Minturn/Oliver Leydon-Davis bt Wesley Caulkett/Raymond Tan (Australia) 20-22 21-14 21-11.
Women's doubles quarterfinals:

Amanda Brown/Stephanie Cheng bt Van Le Pham/Talia Saunder(Australia) 21-19 21-12.

- NZPA