Badminton: Dan and Sara ready to part

MELBOURNE - Sometimes in sport, you find something which goes beyond the mere playing of the game. Sometimes you find athletes whose lives have encompassed sport, sure, but who have headed off into territory not restricted by a net or a court or a line - when lives intermingle and true, lasting friendships are forged.

New Zealand's mixed doubles badminton team of Sara Runesten Petersen and Dan Shirley are playing their last international together at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. That old chestnut - the end of an era - is true enough but it doesn't really explain the depth of their partnership which will begin to end when their competition starts this week.

World championship bronze medallists last year, the pair say they are playing better than at any time of their five-year partnership but will sever their badminton links as Sara is returning to her native Denmark to rejoin with friends and family. She leaves behind not just a partner on court but the whole Shirley family who count her a daughter, grand-daughter, sister and friend. She also has a friend in Dan Shirley with whom she has shared a great deal.

The pair were more than badminton partners for a time but both are at pains to emphasise that the romantic chapter is well and truly over. In a way, it's testimony to their friendship. Most of the population know that it is not easy to stay friends after romance's complexities have intervened.

"That was brief," said Runesten Petersen of their time 'together'. "We are just friends now. But I have to say that we have been through so much that we have probably spent more time together than any married couple."

"That's right," said Shirley, 26. "We train together, play together, travel together. It is a bit like being married but it's like working fulltime with your wife as well. Most married couples get a bit of a break from each other when they go off to work but we don't."

When they are home in New Zealand, Sara stays with Shirley on Auckland's North Shore at Lyn and Paul Shirley's home, also shared by Shirley's sister Gabby.

"It's amazing, that we get on as well as we do when we spend so much time together," said Shirley. "But we know each other so well that we are able to talk to each other properly. We do a lot of travelling playing badminton and we do it without a coach.

"If you have no third person, no intermediary, you have to be able to sort things out yourselves and we have done that by being truthful and honest with each other - to the point that we are able to say hard words that are not easy to say sometimes."

Runesten Petersen, 30, has a dark shock of hair, big brown eyes, a ready smile and a Kiwi accent. She has been a highly enjoyable and effective face of New Zealand badminton in her 11-year stay in New Zealand, during which time interest in the game has gone up.

She acknowledges her attachment to the Shirley family - "I have two lives, two families and two countries." - and New Zealand but wants to return to her other family and home of origin. Her brother and wife are about to have a baby and, after a long time in the game, she is adamant that it is time to move on.

She will play some league badminton in Denmark and maybe internationals but is trying to start a new life. Shirley said: "I can understand. I know her so well and also know that there are times in life when you have to move on and that there are things other than badminton. But it's sad, not just to end it, but also because we have been going so well."

The pair are motivated to end on a high and are ranked second seeds in the mixed doubles. That means they cannot meet the favourites, English pairing Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson, until the final. The English pairing dropped out of the world champs, when Sara and Dan won their bronze, when Robertson was injured.

But they still have a royal chance to do better than the bronze they won in Manchester in 2002.

Nor are they the only hopes in the badminton team. Geoff Bellingham and Craig Cooper are ranked highly in the men's doubles, although Shirley's partnership with John Gordon - ranked two in the Commonwealth - will not happen after Gordon's withdrawal through injury.

Gordon's girlfriend, Rachel Hindley, will be trying hard and will be cheered on by Gordon, who is still attending the Games even though he is invalided out. That is another 'partnership' within the team with Geoff and Rebecca Bellingham husband and wife.

Rebecca was a Gordon and her sister Nicole is also a team member. To add to the puzzle, another mixed doubles player, Lianne Shirley, isn't related to Dan Shirley. Confused?

Well, maybe it won't matter. An end of an era for Runesten Petersen and Shirley could also be echoed by other retirements from within this long-running team.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY