The juniors had a very enjoyable and worthwhile trip to Tauranga to compete at the Bay of Plenty Champs on Friday, Sat and Sunday April 16 - 18.

The tournament started on Friday evening with Singles play in the Individuals for the U13s, U15s, and U17s. The doubles and mixed doubles were played on saturday morning and then the team events began in the afternoon. There were two Team ties played on Saturday evening/night and one tie played on sunday morning and the whole event finished about 1.30 pm on Sunday.

Teams that competed were Manawatu, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Waikato.

A special mention goes to Matt Wapp a triple crown winner in the U15 Individuals and to Ruawai Te Rata a triple crown winner in the U17 Individuals.

Place getters and winners in the Bay of Plenty Champs were

Congragulations to those who made the MBA Div 3 & Div 5 Teams.

We wish you all the best for the coming season and hope you are as successful as last year.

The teams are

Division 3
Men:
Wayne Young
Dylan Roberts
Kriengsak Suttiprawat (Tee)
Josh Curry

Women:
Tiyaporn
Tanya Roberts
Lillian Hsu
Maxie Ouyang (provisional)
Carla McKenna (provisional)

Division 5
Men:
Danny Chia
Gary Teague
Mike Newton
Jonny Crawford
Lance McDonald

Women:
Rose Wapp
Lisa Miller
Ruawai Te Rata
Michelle Boudreau

^{The following text and the photo care of the Tribune article published Sun Feb 21}

Josh Curry first picked up a badminton racquet seven or eight years ago when he tagged along with his older brother Sean.

A friend had invited Sean to the Palmerston North Badminton Club and Josh went too.

But it is the younger Curry who is competing in the Oceania Championships in Invercargill later this month.

Josh, 17, will contend the junior and open titles against New Zealanders, Australians, and possibly players from other Pacific nations.

Manawatu Badminton will have a site at the Esplanade Open Day.

We will be there most of the day and will have a portable net set up for the public to have a go and to put on a few demonstration games.

Here's hoping that it is a nice day with no wind.

If you would like to be involved click here to contact Tura.

We are on the hunt for a big whiteboard/blackboard and a tent or gazebo so let us know if you can help.

The level one umpires course held 13/14 March at Sport Manawatu was a big success.

There was a large turnout and presenters Lynne Nixey and Rob Denton were surprised that there were no last minute withdrawals and in fact there was even more people than they were expecting!

It was a very relaxed course with great interaction from all who attended.

Viaola Vaeau must take credit for a big muster of over 20 people including a large group of juniors who travelled from Wellington for the course. As Wellington is hosting the June Bevan U17 Tournament next year he is hitting the ground running, and there should be a healthy number of qualified Wellington umpires to ensure the smooth running of the event.

There was a group of local Manawatu people there also including two juniors and one from Feilding. There was also a participant who travelled all the way from Auckland as he couldn't attend the course up there.