China Moromito in action for Tauranga Girls' College at yesterday's Western Bay of Plenty Junior Secondary School Badminton Championships at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre. Photo/George Novak
China Moromito in action for Tauranga Girls' College at yesterday's Western Bay of Plenty Junior Secondary School Badminton Championships at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre. Photo/George Novak
The usual suspects of Bethlehem College and Tauranga Boys' and Girls were left to fight it out for glory at the Western Bay of Plenty Junior Badminton Championships yesterday.
The respective suburbs picked up one win apiece - Tauranga Boys' College's Year 9-10 team representing the Avenues against the triumphof the Bethlehem College junior girls.
The relative out-of-towners won the tie-breaker, with two Bethlehem Year 7-8 teams battling it out in the final of a newly introduced division.
BayTrust Coach Force development officer Delwyn Cooper said interest in the sport was growing on the back of an increased emphasis on the primary schools.
The tournament included teams from Aquinas College, Mount Maunganui College and Papamoa College, with the winners earning the right to contest the Bay of Plenty finals against Eastern and Central Bay of Plenty representatives in Tauranga in August.
It is a busy year for the sport at the school level, with the secondary school competition in a fortnight to be followed in September by the secondary school nationals.
Cooper believes having the nationals at Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre is the perfect carrot to entice prospective players into the sport.
