College sports: NZ team overcome theft to take out badminton title

By DAVE WORSLEY

The trouble-plagued Northern New Zealand No 1 team won the June Bevan under-17 transtasman teams event that finished at the North Harbour Badminton Centre yesterday.

A day before the tournament 20 racquets and other equipment was stolen from the girls' motel.

But the team overcame the setback to defeat the Victoria Rebels in the final.

Chance Cheng (Westlake Boys') won the top singles against Jeff Tho, effectively giving Cheng the top seeding for his defence of the national under-17 title this week.

Throughout the teams event Cheng did not lose a match or even drop a game. However, he will have some tough competition in the Australasian champs from teammate Henry Tam and from Alan Chan who did not play the teams event.

Soccer

The New Zealand secondary schools soccer side are still chasing their first win of their British tour.

After a 0-0 draw against their Irish counterparts first up, they lost 3-1 to Northern Irish schools at Stormont, Belfast, yesterday.

The first goal for the home side came in the second minute but Palmerston North Boys' High School's Jason Haynes equalised a couple of minutes later.

The match soon developed into a physical encounter, with one Irish player sent off in the 27th minute, spurring the home team to a more conservative and controlled game plan.

The second Irish goal was scored in the 13th minute with the third midway through the second half.

Haynes was always threatening in attack while captain LJ Pijnenberg (Hamilton Boys' High) was prominent with several strong runs in midfield, supported on his left by Hone Fowler (Mt Albert Grammar School). Goalkeeper Michael Borren (Palmerston North Boys' High) did well and controlled most of the action in his area.

Following the game, team manager Mark Oates conceded that it was a lacklustre New Zealand performance, with all three goals resulting from hesitancy in defence.

"We created few chances in the attacking third and despite the fact that Michael Gwyther (Rosmini) performed well up front while Mikey Halikias (Wellington College) also worked consistently, we lacked penetration, due to very good defending by the Irish."

The team play Scottish Schools in Glasgow tonight.

Sevens Massey High have produced outstanding performance in winning the North Harbour sevens.

The Tusi Pisi-coached side dominated their opposition with captain George Pisi, Ken Pisi and Fou Tuivaiti three of the stars.

In the semifinals Massey swept past Glenfield College 48-0. They then beat Rosmini College 24-0 in the championship final.

Rosmini had come through a much tougher opponent in their semifinal, beating Westlake 19-12.

Massey will now represent North Harbour at the National Condor Sevens Tournament in Petone at Queen's Birthday Weekend.

In Auckland Mt Albert Grammar gave a dominating display of sevens, emphatically shutting out Kelston Boys' High 17-0 in the championship trophy section final at Waitakere Rugby Club. They also earned the right to play at the Condor sevens.

This week Today (until Saturday): Badminton, under-17 Australasian champs, North Harbour Badminton Centre

Saturday (until Wednesday): Tennis, national 16s champs, Vodafone Tennis Park, Glen Innes.