Seventeen of the country’s top players departed for New Zealand last weekend, the third year a team has been sent to take part in the badminton competition.

The five-day contest will be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Youth Centre. Each player will compete in singles and doubles in a round robin format before advancing to the knockout competition where the medal winners will be decided.

Competing in Division two in the boys singles competition are Samson Harry, Jordan Peraua, Daniel Akavi and Ray Charles Marsters.

Division three sees Setephano Vakatini, Emanuela Mataio and Jonah Mare in action while, Elijah Gukisuva and Cramon Hewett are in division four and division five respectively.

For the girls, Loureina Kureta is competing in Division one, while Renee Peraua, Mary Mare, Mareta Marsters and Tereapii Akavi are in Division two. Rima Kareroa, Tehani Matapo and Chiann Naslund round out the team.

At the time of going to print, Emanuela and Cramon were still “alive”, with the knockout rounds beginning before the doubles competition was due to start later in the afternoon.

The Cook Islands team and athletes from Tonga and Samoa were greeted with a cultural performance at Tauranga Intermediate School.

Bank South Pacific have sponsored the AIMS Teams tracksuits every year and this week presented the team with their outfits as well as BSP caps and water bottles.

Cook Islands Badminton thank all those who have supported the team and their fundraising efforts, including Prime Foods, Bank South Pacific, Vonnia’s and Mareko’s.

Results from the day’s competition will follow this week.