Mixed Fortunes at Individual Competition in Glasgow

30 July 2014

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Mixed Fortunes as Badminton Team Start Individual Competition in Glasgow

The New Zealand badminton team commenced their individual competitions at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last night NZT and continue with a busy involvement at the Emirates Arena tonight.

Joe Wu was first up for the New Zealanders in a first round men’s singles match that he was expected to come through but the Kiwi never got into the match, allowing his Sri Lankan opponent to dictate terms and went down 21-23, 17-21.

Wu was bitterly disappointed not to progress and face the top seed in the second round. At times when executing the game plan Wu showed his control but too often strayed and paid the ultimate price.

Michael Fowke made his Commonwealth Games debut and executed his game plan to perfection and wore down his Maldivian opponent and came out a comfortable winner. This is a good confidence booster for Michael and he now faces the second ranked Sri Lankan in what will be a tough match.

Kevin Dennerly-Minturn and Madeleine Stapleton were in total control of their opening mixed doubles match against a Falkland Islands combination, winning with ease and moving to the second round.

Certainly the match of the day from a Kiwi perspective was the last match on court for the day, the Hamilton siblings Oliver and Susannah Leydon-Davis faced a tricky first round draw against the top Welsh pair. The Kiwis got off to an unusually nervous start which saw them a little tense and losing the first game.

At the start of the second game the Kiwis came out a different combination - they stuck to their game plan and started taking control of the match. Winning the second game forced a decider and again the Kiwis started well and dominated the game, in the end running out comfortable winners.

Olly and Susannah were pleased to have overcome a poor start.

“It was a bit of a slow start, we didn’t come out of the blocks too fast and got into a few things we shouldn’t have been doing and lost the first game,” said Oliver. “But after that we got our composure back and got back into the game and stick to the game plan and pleased to come away with a win.”

Susannah said once they got on track, they were always in control.

“We started opening up the court a whole lot better for ourselves and that meant that Oliver could put it away a whole lot quicker which meant we controlled the pace, and it was a much more disciplined couple of games for us.”

Tonight sees more New Zealanders in action from Glasgow (all times local):

• Anna Rankin in women’s singles, third game on TV court approx. 9:50am
• Michael Fowke in men’s singles at 11:30am
• Michelle Chan in women’s singles 8th game on TV court approx. midday
• Olly and Susannah Leydon-Davis in mixed doubles 8th game, approx. midday
• Kevin Dennerly-Minturn and Maddie Stapleton in mixed doubles at approx. 4:30pm
• Kevin and Olly in men’s doubles, approx 8:00pm
• Anna and Maddie in women’s doubles, approx. 8:30 pm

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