15 February 2008
The South African men's and women's badminton teams will be out to confirm their status as the best in Africa when they contest the African preliminaries of the Thomas and Uber Cups in Mauritius.
The African preliminaries of world badminton's most prestigious competitions outside of the Olympics take place from 17 to 21 February. Kenya was scheduled to host the events, but domestic unrest has led to them being moved to Mauritius.
The final stages of the Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup will be held in Indonesia in May.
All continents represented
In the past, only Asian and European countries were able to qualify teams for the final stage, but now there will be at least one team from each of the five continents that qualifies.
Twelve teams will contest the finals, with six countries from Asia, three from Europe, one from Africa, one from Oceania, and one from Pan-America taking part.
Badminton South Africa, which won both preliminaries of the bi-annual event in 2006, has selected experienced teams for this year's tournaments, and they're strong favourites to repeat their successes of two years ago.
All Africa Games success
More recently, at the All Africa Games in Algiers in July 2007, South Africa finished top of the medals after a tight tussle with Nigeria, capturing three golds, two silvers, and three bronzes.
The men's doubles combination of Roelof and Chris Dednam and the women's doubles pairing of Michelle Edwards and Chantelle Botts both won gold.
The experienced Chris Dednam, a veteran of the 2004 Olympic Games, where he reached the final 32 of the men’s singles and mixed doubles, will spearhead the SA men's challenge, while Edwards will fulfil that role for the women's team. At the All Africa Games, apart from her doubles gold, she won silver in the singles, and bronze in the mixed doubles.
SOUTH AFRICAN TEAMS
Men: Thomas Cup
Chris Dednam, Roelof Dednam, Wiaan Viljoen, Dorian James (capt.), and Enrico James
Women: Uber Cup
Michelle Edwards (capt.), Stacey Doubell, Jade Morgan, Annari Viljoen, Chantal Botts and Kerry-Lee Harrington
National Coach: Johan Kleingeld
Manager: Prof. Martin Dednam
Enrico James will make his debut for South Africa, thus continuing a "tradition" of multiple members of one family representing SA; Chris and Roelof Dednam are brothers, while Wiaan and Anneri Viljoen are brother and sister.
SAinfo reporter, with additional reporting from Badminton South Africa
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