The fate of the third test match had already been decided after Australia won the opening two tests against New Zealand 4-1 on Saturday 1 October.
However, both teams still turned up with a determined spirit, maximizing the opportunity of international competition this afternoon as the final test match in the Trans-Tasman Challenge 2022 took place at BadmintonWorx Yennora.
Men’s Doubles
The Australian men’s doubles duo got off to a fiery start, fast out the starting blocks to stun their New Zealand opponents in a quick opening game. Isaac and Jaden could not find the answers to progress much further in the second, as Jack styled out the victory with a deceptive backhand crosscourt net shot to gain an early lead.
- Jack Yu/Otto Zhao (AUS) vs Isaac Chan/Jaden Mingoa (NZL) 21-10 21-12
Women’s Singles
Both Victoria and Catrina saved the best until last as their singles match today spanned across 61 minutes – the longest match of the weekend. Both players puffed through mountainous rallies and Catrina showed glimmers of hope after trailing 17-8 in the deciding game. However, Victoria refused to let the match escape her, finding the four corners to bring the match back level.
- Victoria Guo (NZL) vs Catrina Tan (AUS) 19-21 24-22 21-13
Men’s Singles
The men’s singles match was a similar story – a three-game thriller between Australia’s Kayson Goh and New Zealand’s Chris Benzie. Kayson continued his impressive form which saw him past Isaac Chan yesterday, still elated by his return to international badminton and holding his nerve in the most crucial moments to close out the match.
- Kayson Goh (AUS) vs Chris Benzie (NZL) 21-17 14-21 21-15
Women’s Doubles
Sydney and Yuelin had the pleasure of securing an overall 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand in this test series. The New Zealander’s put on a stronger show than their teammates who succumbed more easily the day before, but the Australians were simply too strong in the women’s doubles discipline.
- Sydney Go/Yuelin Zhang (AUS) vs Nanna Siegemund/Camellia Zhou (NZL) 21-16 21-14
Mixed Doubles
Finally, Raphael and Berry helped New Zealand to end their campaign on a high and achieve the team’s best result of the series after winning the final game, ending the third test match with a 3-2 victory for Australia.
- Raphael Deloy/Berry Ng (NZL) vs Ricky Tang/Dania Nugroho (AUS) 21-17 21-13
Final result
Australia got hold of the perpetual trophy in the inaugural Trans-Tasman Challenge following their 4-1 4-1 and 3-2 victories over New Zealand.
Each team was joined by team coaches who are both ex-Olympians (Leanne Choo, Australia and Rikke Olsen-Siegemund, Denmark) who reflected on the experience for the players:
“I’m really happy with all the performances and the result. No one, including the New Zealanders, has been able to get much international experience over the last two years so it’s been great to see them have this opportunity and see what they’ve been working on, but I think they’ve performed really well. It’s my first time coaching this team so it’s been interesting to watch. I thought we would get up on the kiwis as I knew we had a strong team coming up and we have an older team than them which gives us an upper hand. This was massively important for their World Championships preparations as they are able to play outside of what they are used to and it’s also the first time this specific group has been together, so it’s been a good team bonding experience which is really important ”, says Leanne Choo
“I think overall our Team did really well in all 3 tests. We had some players that performed really well and close to their best which were awesome to see…I think we won the matches we did but we were also really close to take some unexpected wins which for me is as important as our young players have shown they can compete against players that have been more exposed than ours. Our team was made up of players between 15-17 years old which is much younger than the Australian team. We haven’t had any international opportunities for our young players since the pandemic started so it has been really good to compete against the Australians and to be able to travel again and hopefully it gives our players motivation to work towards some of their future goals“, says Rikke Olsen-Siegemund
View all of the footage from the three test matches on Badminton Oceania’s YouTube Channel – click here.
You can also view all images from the event in the Facebook Photo Albums – click here.
