New South Wales has claimed the 2023 YONEX Ede Clendinnen Shield after a thrilling 3-2 win over Victoria on Wednesday afternoon.
The win for the New South Wales squad ends a 12-year drought after they last captured the Clendinnen back in 2011.
The victory didn’t come easy as Victoria pushed each encounter right to the end, with four of the five gold medal matches going to three games.
To start the day NSW’s Rizky Ismail and Setyana Mapasa defeated Victoria’s Kenneth Choo and Gronya Somerville 21-17 21-23, 21-17 in the mixed doubles.
Next on court was Jacob Schueler (VIC) who defeated Jie Ying Chan 21-13, 15-21, 21-11 in the men’s singles.
NSW’s Tiffany Ho then put another win on the board with a 21-17, 21-13 triumph over Louisa Ma (VIC) in the women’s singles.
Victoria’s Choo and Rayne Wang were next on court for the men’s doubles and were put to the test by Rizky Ismail and Frengky Putra but managed to secure a hard-fought 21-19, 8-21, 21-19 win.
With both states locked on two wins each, the deciding game came down to a thrilling match between Kaitlyn Ea and Somerville (VIC) and Sylvinna Kurniawan and Setyana Mapasa (NSW).
Control of the match went back and forth throughout play, but in the end NSW was too strong and claimed the Clendinnen 19-21, 21-12, 21-12.
NSW Manager and Player HD Tang said it was an honour to return the shield to NSW after a 12-year hiatus.
“We are super stoked after not having won the Clendinnen in 12 years, it feels great to bring gold back to NSW,” Tang said.
“Our whole team played so well and were all super-hyped cheering each other on during the matches.”
Tang said the victory didn’t come easy and described all the matches as “cliff-hangers”.
“I definitely had faith in my team, but I was still on the edge of my seat,” he said.
“We were all cheering as loud as we could.”
The triumph is still fresh in the mind of the NSW Manager, but one thing that’s already certain is the team is determined to come back and defend the title in 2024.
Tang also congratulated all of the other teams involved in the Clendinnen and thanked all of the officials and volunteers for running the tournament.
“A really huge thank you to them all,” he said.
“Sometimes they can be under-recognized for all of their hard work, so a huge shout out to everyone involved to make this happen.”
Meanwhile, South Australia defeated Western Australia 3-2 to claim the bronze medal.
In Division 2, Victoria 2 defeated Tasmania 2 3-0 to claim gold.
Division 1 (Ede Clendinnen Shield)
Gold – NSW (def VIC 3-2)
Silver – VIC
Bronze – South Australia
4th – WA
5th – TAS
Division 2
Gold- Victoria 2
Silver- Tasmania 2
