Badminton: NZ duo aim to teach Danes a lesson

ATHENS - While most New Zealanders target Australia as sporting enemy No 1, Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen are desperate for their Olympic badminton campaign to include a Danish scalp.

Runesten Petersen may be Danish by birth -- and only a full time resident of Auckland's North Shore for four years -- but there will be no divided loyalties should the world-ranked No 18 pair make it over their first obstacle in the mixed doubles competition.

Their first opponents are 22nd-seeded Canadians Philippe Bourret and Denyse Julien on Saturday (11pmNZT) but already Runesten Petersen and Shirley can't help eyeing a second round appointment with Jonas Rasmussen and Rikke Olsen.

Irked that their approaches to train with the Danish national squad have been consistently ignored, Runesten Petersen said they were desperate to prove a point against Rasmussen and Olsen, the tournment's seventh seeds.

Runesten Petersen and Shirley have regularly tried to practice against the Danes -- one of the world's strongest mixed doubles exponents -- but have been denied because the Scandinavians feel the New Zealanders are not worthy.

"To improve you have to play good opposition all the time and that's what we lack in New Zealand," Shirley told NZPA.

Although the English were happy to accommodate the duo -- they recently completed their Olympic preparation in Milton Keynes with British combination Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms -- the Danes have not been so forthcoming.

"They have not been helpful at all. It's been quite annoying sometimes because I know all the coaches and every time we ask them they go 'nah'," Runesten Petersen said.

"It would be quite nice to play them and show them."

The New Zealanders, ranked 16th in the competition, have already hinted they can match it with the Danes after beating another combination at the Denmark Open last September, soon after they were snubbed.

Runesten Petersen is well acquainted with Rasmussen -- half of the current world championship men's doubles duo -- and Olsen, a childhood adversary from age 11.

"I grew up with Rikke. We always battled it out in the finals though I haven't played her for a while in the mixed.

"She's on her way out of international badminton but she's still an experienced player. Jonas will be confident after the world champs but they can be shaken."

Should they get past the Canadians -- as they did in last year's Chinese-Taipei Open -- Runesten Petersen won't be shy about reminding Olsen how she fared in Sydney 2000.

There, with a different partner, Olsen blew two match points in their semifinal to miss out on contesting the gold.

She suffered the same fate in the play-off for third and fourth, to leave Australia empty-handed.

"We're hoping she chokes again," Runesten Petersen admitted.

"She said she hasn't had many good experiences with the Olympics so hopefully I'll be able to say 'Remember Sydney'."

Runesten Petersen, 30, and 25-year-old Shirley have been partners since the 2001 world championships in Seville and won bronze a year later at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Now, with the pinnacle of their careers just days away, they concede they are no certainties to continue their union for the next Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March 2006.

Runesten Petersen estimates they have spent 30 of the last 52 weeks on the road, tripping from one qualifying tournament to another.

The inability to hold down a job at home means family has been called upon to make great financial sacrifices.

Runesten Petersen quit her job as a customer services manager in May 2003 to devote herself to an Olympic qualifying campaign while Shirley finally finished a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Auckland University last year -- seven years after he started studying.

"The last three years have mainly been badminton. I only did one (degree) paper last year and one in 2002.

"I have to live with my parents -- there's no other way I could do it," Shirley said.

"Badminton NZ want us to carry on to Melbourne but we have a lot of decisions to make.

"It's so hard to live, it's such a big commitment to make. You put everything into your badminton and all other parts of your life are passing you by."

Runesten Petersen was also noncommittal about the future.

"This is what we've worked so hard for, for the last two years.... this dream. We just want to do everything well this time and then we'll think about what happens next."

- NZPA