New Zealanders came away with two titles of the five on offer at the North Shore City Badminton International and were close to a third as some senior players came through the draws proving that age and guile can beat youthful exuberance.
North Harbour Olympian John Moody as the top seed overcame
second seeded Indian Ajay Jayaram 21-16 in the first game and then
had to work hard for a 22-20 score in the second game for the men's
final.
Jayaram was the winner of the singles at the Waikato International
seven days earlier, but found Moody, 25 who did not play in
Hamilton was too experienced on the vital points.
Fellow New Zealand team members Henry Tam and Donna Haliday, the top seeds in the mixed draw beat Kiwis Joe Wu and Danielle Barry in straight games 21-14 21-12. It was the second title in consecutive weeks for Tam and Haliday after they had won the Waikato International the previous weekend.
The Japanese men's doubles pair of Rei Sato and Naomasa Senkyo picked up their second title in New Zealand as they took 49 minutes to beat Moody and the retired former world top-10 ranked John Gordon by a marathon score of 21-11 15-21 21-13.
In the women's doubles the Japanese pair of Ayaka Takahashi and Koharu Yonemoto won in a repeat performance of the week before beating the same Kiwi combination of Renee Flavell and Rachel Hindley 21-9 21-15.
The women's final was an all Japanese affair with Syaka Sato beating Misaki Matsutomo 21-18 22-20.
