Badminton: High seeding lifts hopes

New Zealand are seeded second for the mixed teams' badminton event at this month's Commonwealth Games, reflecting high world rankings among the squad.

England are the top seeds, Scotland third, Wales fourth and Malaysia, who are exceptionally strong in men's badminton, fifth.

New Zealand's high seeding means they are more likely to have a smooth ride through their round-robin matches, though the draw for doubles matches has not been announced yet.

"We probably expected to be third seeds," team manager Grant Stone said. "But we've performed reasonably well over the last six to eight months and got reasonably high-ranking points."

New Zealand's best chance of points is expected to come in the men's doubles, with Daniel Shirley and John Gordon ranked 10th in the world.

Rhona Robertson and Tammy Jenkins, who won a bronze medal in the women's doubles at Kuala Lumpur in 1998, are ranked 12th in the world. Shirley and Sara Runesten-Petersen have the same ranking in the mixed doubles.

The teams are expected to be in four groups of four at Manchester, with the winning team from each group playing in the semifinals and guaranteed a medal.

Each tie will comprise five matches (one men's singles, one women's singles, one men's doubles, one women's doubles and one mixed doubles).

"Because we're second seeds we're not likely to come up against any high-ranked nations in our group," Stone said.

New Zealand came away from Kuala Lumpur with two bronze medals four years ago, and Stone said they were "quietly confident" of success in Manchester.

- NZPA

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