WHANGANUI'S Chris Sharrock claimed his third senior open grade badminton title in six months when he and partner Rowena Devathasan won the mixed doubles at the Manawatu Open last weekend.
Sharrock, who attends Massey University for a sports degree and is assistant coach of the national under-15 and U19 teams, had previously won the doubles and mixed doubles crowns at the Taranaki Open late last year.
In the singles grade at Manawatu on Friday, Sharrock was disappointed to be knocked out in the quarter-finals by fellow Manawatu player Josh Curry, after he had beaten New Zealand U15 rep Tiany Xie in the first round.
"It turned out to be a marathon three-set match that lasted over an hour and 10 minutes, with each of the three sets being decided by only two points the difference," he said.
Then on Saturday was the men's and mixed doubles, with Sharrock teaming with established partner Ernest Sulivan, an Indonesian student, as the No1 seeds in the men's draw.
After two easy wins, they went up against the No2 seeds Jacob Morgon, and Caleb O'Connor-Chen in the final, but lost 21-19 21-15.
"Morgon is an old rival of mine on the court, having played against each other since around 2009, but over the years of playing against and with each other, we have developed a great friendship," Sharrock said.
"We fight it out, and sadly it is to say, that again this time, he and partner Chen got the better of us.
"Ernest and I had a debrief after the game, and had no problem admitting that our serving and return of serve severely let us down in the final."
Having not yet done himself justice, Sharrock re-focused for the afternoon's mixed doubles, with him and Devathasan having been Taranaki champions.
They got the first round bye and then won the quarter-final comfortably in 30 minutes, before taking on two players Sharrock coaches at under-19 level - Wei Lim, and Rebecca Ye.
"Knowing this was going to be a tough match was an understatement, however Rowena and I always held the upper hand, as being their coach has the perks of also knowing the young pair's style of play, and how they are likely going to target certain areas," he said.
They won the three-set match to go into the final against Wellington's Morgon and Mayu Suzuki, which they won in dominant fashion, 21-19 21-13.
"Going into the final, we had specific plans to target Jake's backhand defence, and to keep attacking Mayu at the net, and thankfully these paid off for us in dividends."
Sharrock said he had lots of support from his parents, along with residents and fellow residential advisors (RAs) from his McHardy Hall at Massey.
Next on the agenda will be the Wellington North Open in July and then this year's Taranaki Open.
Sharrock is also sitting his Badminton World Federation Coaching certificate, having completed the first week in Auckland, with another week in Hamilton to come, being alongside some of the top coaches in the country.