Badminton: Bronze medallists head NZ Games team

World badminton championships bronze medallists Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen will spearhead New Zealand's assault at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March next year.

The well-performed mixed doubles combination, who also won bronze at the 2002 Manchester Games, were among the experienced 10-strong New Zealand team announced today to compete at Melbourne.

Six were members of the 2002 team and four -- Geoff Bellingham, Shirley, Rebecca Bellingham and Nicole Gordon -- were at Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Team manager Grant Stone was happy with the composition of the team.

"There is a good mix of players with Commonwealth Games experience in addition to younger athletes who will feature prominently for a number of years," Stone said.

"With Dan and Sara now having had Olympic experience and with them achieving Badminton New Zealand's first ever medal at the world championships this year, we expect them to be our best medal chance."

At Manchester, New Zealand won three medals in a competition which is generally dominated by nations including Malaysia, England and Singapore.

Along with the mixed doubles bronze, Runesten Petersen won a team bronze and a silver medal in the women's doubles with Gordon.

Stone believed the standard would be higher than at Manchester, with bronze medals more difficult to acquire due to the introduction of third/fourth playoff games.

"However, our world rankings are ahead of where we were pre-Manchester and we have an intensive programme leading into the Games."

After six weeks of training in New Zealand, the team will leave for Germany in January for a number of tournaments and three test matches against Germany.

There are then two Oceania tournaments in Auckland in February before a 10-day training camp in China.

The badminton in Melbourne comprises the mixed teams event from March 16-20 and the individual competition from March 21-26.

Team:

Men: Geoff Bellingham (singles, men's doubles), Craig Cooper (men's doubles, mixed doubles), John Gordon (singles, men's doubles), John Moody (singles), Daniel Shirley (men's doubles, mixed doubles).

Women: Rebecca Bellingham (singles, women's doubles), Nicole Gordon (singles, women's doubles), Rachel Hindley (singles, women's doubles), Sara Runesten Petersen (women's doubles, mixed doubles), Lianne Shirley (mixed doubles).

- NZPA