International Badminton Returns To Auckland

Top international badminton returns to Auckland and the Gillies Ave courts with the Auckland International starting Thursday 18 June featuring prizemoney worth US$5,000 and plenty of Indonesia’s rising stars as well as players from Australia, Mexico and the Czech Republic.

The tournament which starts on Thursday with the finals Sunday 19 June. The New Zealand Junior International will run alongside the full International which will see several players make a welcome return to tournament play in New Zealand with Kiwis Joe Wu, Michelle Chan and Rachel Hindley all taking part in the event after spending several weeks in Asia training.

The men’s singles draw will have Wu as top seed and a likely semifinal match up against Waikato teenager Bjorn Seguin who is on a run of three titles – the North Harbour Open, New Zealand U23 tournament and Northland Open. Seguin will have to watch out for Indonesian Arief Gafar Ramadhan who is in the same quarter of the draw. Men’s second seed is Dean Nuttall(North Harbour) with Southland’s James Eunson also seeded.

In the women’s singles draw there are several top-100 players including top seed Rosaria Pungkasari at 53 in the world. Second seed is Kristina Ludikova(Czech Republic) ranked at 62 in the world while several Australians and Indonesians add strength to the draw alongside local seeds Chan and Hindley.

The men’s doubles looks to be an exciting challenge between top seeds Seguin and fellow Waikato player Michael Fowke against several Indonesia pairs and Australian second seeds Raj Veeran and Glenn Warfe. In the women’s doubles Chan and Hindley will be difficult to beat, however the Australians and Indonesians along with top seeded Kiwis Danielle Barry and Donna Haliday have experience on their side.

The mixed features a very open draw as top seeds Haliday and Henry Tam from the New Zealand team try to fend off some potentially talented Indonesian competitive as well as many young Kiwi stars.

The Auckland International will be used by most players as build up for the US$50,000 Grand Prix tournament at North Harbour next month.