Pictured: Edward Lau (New Zealand). Photo credit: Badminton Victoria
The second half of day one at the VICTOR Oceania Championship 2020 delivered a handful of surprises as the Men’s Singles seeded players exited the draw in the early stages.
One of the biggest shocks on day one came from last year’s Oceania Junior Champion, Edward Lau, who stunned the fourth seed from Australia, Keith Edison. Shortly after, New Zealand’s seventh seed Niccolo Tagle became the second upset as Ranasinghe delivered in two straight games.
- Edward Lau (NZL) vs Keith Mark Edison [4] (AUS) 21-12 21-19
- Milain Lohith Ranasinghe (AUS) vs Niccolo Tagle [7] (NZL) 21-19 21-15
Meanwhile, Kiribati’s Women’s Doubles players nailed their first round in two consecutive games after seeing off the Tahitians. The girls struggled to find their form in the first game before they dominated the second.
- Tinabora Tekeiaki/ Teritiria Utimawa (KIR) vs Meiissa Mi You/ Nina Smits (TAH) 21-19 21—10
“We are glad we had the opportunity to take part in last week’s development camp as it helped us to get ready to play on these courts. We are extremely happy to win the first round and we’re looking forward for tomorrow’s match”, says Tinabora.
In the women’s singles, Majan Almazan who had an amazing journey at last year’s Australian Junior International, recovered from one game down to squeeze past New Caledonia’s Johanna Kou.
Meanwhile, Tonga’s Lata ‘Isitolo gained a huge boost of confidence in her defeat of Samoa 2019 Pacific Games gold medalist, Dgenyva Matauli.
- Majan Almazan (AUS) vs Johanna Kou (NCL) 17-21 21-14 21-13
- Lata ‘Isitolo (TGA) vs Dgenyva Matauli (NCL) 21-18 15-21 21-16
The day ended with another upset in the men’s singles as the ninth seed Anthony Wong was ousted from the draw by fellow compatriot, Dimitri Han.
- Dimitri Han (AUS) vs Anthony Wong [9] (AUS) 21-16 21-15
As the results narrow down to the rounds of 16, check out the draw and follow all results on Tournament Software.
Courts one and two will be available to watch from 9am (local time GMT+11) on the live stream, provided by OVO.
Join the conversation online using #VOC2020
