Badminton: Boost for NZ tournament

The lure of qualifying points for next year's Olympic Games in Athens is about to put Wellington on the world badminton map.

Badminton New Zealand has already received entries from 16 countries for the inaugural Wellington International at Hataitai's Badminton Hall from August 8-10.

The tournament follows the rescheduled July 28-August 3 world championships in Birmingham, England, but is still expected to attract a field of similar ilk to last month's Waikato International.

"At Waikato we had four world top-10 ranked players so when you consider we're the world's fifth most popular sport, we're talking pretty high quality," Badminton NZ executive director Peter Dunne said.

Top New Zealanders Dan Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen are confirmed for the tournament.