The New Zealand team to contest the Oceania badminton championships in Auckland next week has been named, including Olympic hopefuls Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen
The Oceania team's event runs from Tuesday to Thursday, with the key clash between favourites New Zealand and Australia scheduled for Thursday evening.
The individual competition
will run from Friday to Sunday, with Shirley and Runesten Petersen chasing a top performance in the last tournament in the Olympic qualification period for Athens.
They currently sit just outside their qualifying mark so will at least need to finish runners-up in their mixed doubles event to have any chance of reaching the Games.
The pair are ranked 18th in the world but only the top 16 make the draw in Athens.
If seedings go as expected, they should meet Australian rivals Travis Denney and Kate Wilson-Smith in the Anzac Day final.
New Zealand team:
Men: Geoff Bellingham (Waitakere), Craig Cooper (Auckland), John Gordon (Waitakere), John Moody (North Harbour), Dan Shirley (Waitakere)
Women: Rebecca Gordon (Auckland), Nicole Gordon (Auckland), Rachel Hindley (North Harbour), Sara Runesten Petersen (North Harbour), Lianne Shirley (Waitakere)
- NZPA
