Canterbury take home four titles

CANTERBURY players won four of the major titles at the annual Otago Open in Dunedin at the weekend.

The outlier was Wellington North star Luke Falvey, who won the men’s singles as an unseeded player after a long layoff with injury.

Falvey was in dominant touch at the Otago Badminton Centre, dropping just one set, in an 1821, 2118, 2116 win over No 1 seed Avinash Shastri (Auckland) in the quarterfinals.

He won all other matches in straight sets, including the final against Alex Zhao (Canterbury). The other semifinalists were Otago's Aaryan Alexander and Canterbury’s Jeremiah Mainickam.

Classy Canterbury player Elly Li claimed the triple crown with wins in the women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

Li knocked out second seed Adithi Alexander (Wellington North) in the singles quarterfinals, and beat defending champion Claudia Smith (Southland) in the semifinals.

She had the crowd against her in the final, as she played longserving Otago representative Lucy Thomsen, but she marched to a 2113, 217 win.

Li, in her first year out of St Andrew’s College, teamed with fellow Cantabrian Michelle Foong to beat Adithi Alexander and Smith 2116, 2114 in the women’s doubles final.

It was a third straight runnerup finish for Alexander and Smith.

One of the games of the tournament had been in the semifinals when Li and Foong met Thomsen and Pingkan Polak, the Otago pair seeking a seventh consecutive title.

The Canterbury pair triumphed 2115, 1821, 2111 in a threeset thriller.

Li teamed with fellow Cantabrian Alfred Wong to win the mixed doubles, beating Otago’s Thomsen and Josh Kellett 2119, 2112 in the final.

Thomson and Kellett had beaten Foong and William Chen 1621, 2119, 218 in the semifinals, while Li and Wong beat top seeds Aaryan Alexander and Smith in straight sets.

Canterbury pairing Chen and Zhao beat Kellett and Caleb Young (Southland) in the men’s doubles final.

Full stretch . . . Alex Zhao, of Christchurch, reaches high during the men’s singles semifinals.

PHOTOS: LINDA ROBERTSON Calm and concentrated . . . Paige Raines, 17, of Invercargill, umpires a game on court 1 during the Otago Open at the Otago Badminton Centre on Saturday.

Pairing up . . . Dunedin badminton identity Andrea Vernall (left) is poised as Anna Ritchie, of Canterbury, serves during a women’s doubles plate match.

Delicate touch . . . Aaryan Alexander, of Dunedin, places a return shot during the men’s singles semifinals.

Never forget to stretch . . . Dunedin player Luke Falvey warms down after one of his games.