WAIS IASP athletes Nicholas Kidd and Leisha Cooper have claimed national titles over the weekend at the Australian Badminton Championships in Adelaide.
Still riding the high of being named on the Australian Commonwealth Games team for New Delhi, Kidd claimed a second consecutive men’s single title after cruising to a 21-19 21-12 win over Chad Whitehead.
Kidd went into the final as hot favourite after defeating Whitehead twice earlier in the week during the team event, and the final proved to be no different. The result confirmed Kidd’s status as Australia’s top ranked men’s single player, and the 29 year-old has now travelled to Malaysia for a training camp, with the Malaysians’ expected to be the biggest threat to Kidd’s medal prospects in New Delhi in October.
In a fantastic result for Western Australian badminton, Leisha Cooper upset the form book to take her first national title after defeating Leanne Choo in three gruelling sets. Choo had twice defeated Cooper in the team events, but the WAIS scholarship holder reserved her best for last, taking the Australian Championship 21-17 16-21 21-15.
Delhi 2010 will feature six events in badminton – Singles and Doubles matches for men and women, Mixed Doubles and Team Mixed – to be held at the Siri Fort Sports Complex between 4 -14 October2010.
