Badminton: It's all sunshine for Moody

John Moody feels fortune is smiling on him after rattling off his fifth straight win yesterday to cruise into badminton's last 16.

The Auckland law student dispatched Zambia's Eli Mambwe 21-10, 21-14 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre to book a last-16 match against Singapore's Hendra Wijaya today.

Moody, seeded eighth in the singles draw, was confident of upsetting Wijaya, the former Indonesian world junior semifinalist, and chasing a medal.

"If I can get past this, I'm against an Indian player and he hasn't been in the best form," Moody said yesterday.

"If I can win tomorrow then I rate my chances against the Indian - that'll take me to the semis then anything can happen."

It's already been a memorable first Games for the Northlander, inspired by the feelgood factor in the athletes' village.

He registered his biggest singles result at the weekend when he upset India's Anup Sridhar for the New Zealand team's only victory of the bronze medal match.

The singles draw has also treated Moody well, giving him hope he can make the semifinals.

"There's a lot of good players on my side of the draw but there's no one sitting head and shoulders above everyone else. It's definitely open.

"I'm really happy with my draw. I've avoided the Malaysians, and their No 2 in the world is looking pretty formidable."

Unfortunately the Malaysian in question, top seed Chong Lee, sits on New Zealand No 1 Geoff Bellingham's side of the draw.

Bellingham, seeded fifth, beat Jersey's Gavin Carter 21-8, 21-8 yesterday to book a last-16 match against Sridhar. In the mixed doubles, Craig Cooper and Lianne Shirley won their first round match 21-11, 21-18 over a Zambian combination.

Mixed doubles medal hopes, second seeds Dan Shirley and Sara Runesten-Petersen, were defaulted to by their Sri Lankan opponents to make the last 16.

- NZPA