Badminton: Multiple title winners at the 2019 Whanganui Junior Open

AIMS Games badminton gold medallist Raphael Deloy has kept his form going after winning both of the boys singles title at the 2019 Whanganui Junior Open in Springvale Stadium at the weekend.

Whanganui hosted 65 players from around the North Island, including 10 locals, to compete in Under 15 and Under 17 divisions for over 230 games of singles and doubles action, across Saturday and Sunday.

Waikato's Deloy won his Under 15 final against Wellington North's Samuel Navarra in straight sets, 21-15 21-9, and then they rematched in the Under 17 final, where despite a closer first set, Deloy still prevailed 21-18 21-9.

Waikato's Victoria Guo would win the Under 15 girls singles title, winning the final over Manawatu's Isabella Chen 21-17 21-10, but Guo could not emulate Deloy by also claiming the Under 17 crown, as she lost to Waikato's Amreen Virk 21-13 21-18 in the final.

However, together Deloy and Guo would add another title as they won the Under 17 Mixed Doubles title against Wellington North's Xuan family – Tsai and Zi – by 21-11 21-15.

This made up for missing out on the Under 15 Mixed Doubles crown, as Deloy and Guo lost to a comeback from Navarra and Chen in an exciting three set matchup, 14-21 21-19 21-17.

In the Boys Under 15 doubles it was the Auckland's Wu brothers - Jefferson and Joseph - who beat Navarra and Hawke's Bay's Lezhi Zhu in another three set final, 21-14 15-21 21-18.

The Girls Under 15 doubles was claimed by Chen and Guo, who accounted for Auckland's Ana Dahiya and Phoebe Yang 21-5 21-12.

For the Under 17 Doubles, both the Boys and Girls finals went to three sets.

In the Boys, Manawatu's David Wu and Nathanael Zhang overcame Navarra and Hawke's Bay's Karljeet Cappie 17-21 24-22 21-18.

The Su girls from Manawatu – Chen and Amy – won their final with Virk and Wellington North's Jessica Tsai 14-21 21-18 21-16.

From the Whanganui contingent, the best results came from Chloe Benadie and Tilman Czoska, who won minor titles.

Benadie, who had been seeded second in the Girls Under 17's, won the Classic Plate, beating the Aucklander Dahiya in the final 16-21 22-20 21-19.

In the Under 15's, Czoska won the Consolation Plate, besting Manawatu's Reuben Swan 21-18 21-18.

Also competing in the Under 17's were Kathryn Fleming and Anna Seby.

Under 15's included Kendra Taylor, Tvisha Parashar, Joshua Chacko, Noah Jones, Bede McDouall and Owen Parker.

Chacko reached the semifinals of the singles Consolation Plate, while Parker got to quarterfinals of the Mixed Doubles.