Badminton: Two chances left to impress Games selectors

By JULIE ASH

New Zealand's top players have just two more chances to impress the national selectors before the Commonwealth Games team is announced this month.

The national squad will compete in the North Harbour International this weekend before departing for Fiji on Sunday night to compete in the Oceania championships.

National coach Graeme Robson will name a New Zealand team comprising either 10 or 12 players on May 16.

Robson said the two tournaments, as well as last weekend's Altona International in Melbourne, where Geoff Bellingham beat New Zealand team-mate Nick Hall to win the singles title, were a great test for Games hopefuls.

"It is always hard to know how the players are going until they come up against some hard opposition," he said.

"We played well last weekend and would like to consolidate our dominance over Australia in the next two events."

The Games team will train for six weeks before the West Australian International in Perth in July.

They will then train in China and Holland or Denmark leading up to the start of the Games on July 25.

The North Harbour International, which starts on Friday, has attracted a quality field from several countries, including strong contingents from South Africa and Australia.

Bellingham and Hall are expected to be the top contenders for the singles title. Both are previous winners, but will have to watch out for foreign players such as Ashley and Stuart Brehaut, of Australia, and South African Chris Dednam.

The doubles will feature Dutch Open winners John Gordon and Dan Shirley.

Rhona Robertson, ranked 61st in the world in singles, should be the women's top seed and will pair up with Tammy Jenkins in the doubles.

Danish-born North Harbour player Sara Runesten-Petersen will be looking to cement her place in the Games team with good performances in the doubles and mixed doubles.

Runesten-Petersen and Dan Shirley are ranked 22nd in the world.