Badminton veterans retain title

Nelson Badminton is celebrating another title for 2010, with their veterans team retaining their South Island title in Timaru at the weekend.

This gave Nelson a clean sweep in the senior divisions this year, with the representative team winning the Pearce Cup and progressing to the New Zealand final in October, the masters teams winning both division 1 and 3, and the veterans team division 1.

After travelling all day Friday, the team played three ties on Saturday and the final on Sunday.

They beat Otago 1 6-3 in their opening fixture, despite some tough matches in the ladies' doubles that could have gone either way. They then scored a convincing 7-2 win over Southland 1, followed by an 8-1 win over Otago 2.

That left a showdown with Canterbury 1, who were also unbeaten, but had won their ties by 9-0, 9-0 and 8-1 margins, so the Nelson team was understandably apprehensive going into the tie.

The Nelson men won all three of their doubles matches, and then the ladies pulled off two wins from their three matches, coming back from 16-19 to win 22-20 in the top ladies' match.With five wins in the bag, the result was known before the mixed doubles were played, Nelson still winning the top match to take an overall 6-3 win.

Nelson also entered a second team in the competition, finishing third in division 2. Wins against South Canterbury and Canterbury 3, were followed by losses to Canterbury 2 and the eventual winners, Southland 2.

The Nelson teams were – Division 1: Jayne Marwick, Rae Rhodes, Deb Robinson, Joe Hall, Martin Lubransky and Lawrence Marwick. Division 2: Wendy Bartlett, Margaret Martin, Ann Wilson, Sunny Chan, Dave Prebble and Brett Robinson.

- © Fairfax NZ News