VICTOR Oceania Championships: Day 2 Recap

Day two of the Victor Oceania Championships was even more exciting than anticipated.

Men’s Singles

New Zealand’s Edward Lau is the sole kiwi who has made it through to the men’s singles quarterfinals. Dominated by the Australians, the players from across the Tasman are causing ripples as they progress through the draw. Shrey Dhand, who was the runner up at the VICTOR Oceania Championships 2024 in Geelong will be looking to go one step further in 2025.

Current member of the Australian Falcon’s team, Ephriam Stephen Sam had to battle through a determined and experienced Nathan Tang (AUS) to take his win 22-20, 21-11. The final Tahitian left in the draw started his campaign to make the quarterfinals with a 21-9 first game win against Kai Chen Teoh. Chen then turned on the excelorator to win the next two games and the match win.

Lau had a slow start to his round of 16 match against the experienced Pit Seng Low. Having to dig deep in the first, Lau’s fitness and determination came through to win the second game and secure the match that sees him into the quarterfinals against Kai Chen Teoh.

Women’s Singles

The round of 16 in the women’s singles was very much plain sailing as each match was won in two games. Six Australian and two New Zealand players are throught to the quarterfinals starting at 10am on Saturday 15 February. Number one seed, Tiffany Ho secures her place as she now prepares to play compatriot, Faye Huo while second seed Kai Qi (Bernice) Teoh faces one (Victoria) of the two Tjonadi sisters who are both in the quarter finals.

New Zealanders, Shaunna Li and Jenny Zhu will play Australian’s Sydney Tjonadi and Yuelin Zhang respectively.

Mixed Doubles

Remi Rossi and Heirautea Curet of Tahiti steadied any nerves, pushing through a close three game match to progress through to the round of 16.

Vincent Tao and Gronya Somerville scraped through their first match of the day. The second seeds narrowly avoided an upset from the kiwi duo of Raphael Chris Deloy and Yanxi Liu, winning 21-13, 19-21, 22-20.

Court one hosted the battle of the Pacific, with Cook Islands Kaiyin Mataio and Te Pa o Te Rangi Tupa lining up against Tahiti’s Antoine Beaubois and Esther Tau. A rarity to see two smaller nations face off, the crowds egged their chosen sides on, chanting and cheering filling the arena. The Tahitian pair came away with a 21-13 win in the first game, but the Cook Island team returned to the court with fight to take an early lead in the second game. However, Beaubois and Tau dug deep and finished out the match with a 21-16 game win.

“It was cool to see another kind of gameplay,” said Antoine Beaubois. “It was a difficult match, they tried to impose their style. They like to play fast but we were able to come up with a strategy to win.”

Rossi and Curet faced Tao and Somerville later in the day. After a rocky start, the Australians found their footing and solidified their place in the quarterfinals with a score of 21-10, 21-11.

The other Tahiti pair were also knocked out of the competition. Jayden Lim and Victoria Tjonadi of Australia dominated from the start to punch their ticket into the next round.

The hometown heroes, Edward Lau and Shaunna Li (NZL) raced through the rounds today, confidently winning each game to progress to the quarterfinals.

Men’s Doubles

Chris Benzie and Daniel Hu secured their place in the men’s doubles quarterfinals, beating fourth seeds Asher Jing Jie Ooi and Ricky Tang (AUS) in straight games. The seasoned partnership of Chance Cheng and Alan Yun Lung Chan gave a masterclass to their oppostion as they excited the crowd, moving easily from the round of 16 to the quarterfinals. They now face number three seeds Ken Richardson and Ephriam Stephan Sam (AUS).

Women’s Doubles

After a bye and then a walkover propelled them into the quarterfinals, 13 year old Amy Wang (NZL) and her Australian partner, Yee-Yuan Lim will now face the powerhouse duo of Gronya Somerville and Angela Yu. The experience gained from such a match up will be one to remember for these young badminton players of the future.

The majority of the quarterfinalists are from Australia with only two pair being a New Zealand/Australia combination. Three of the four top seeds are through with the Tjonadi sisters leading the charge.