Comm Games badminton air-con issues

Skybadminton 6th October

Opening night nerves have been cast aside, but the powerful tail wind being generated by Siri Fort Sports Complex's air-conditioning system remains a pressing concern for the New Zealand badminton team.

The Shuttle Blacks play Sri Lanka today in what is likely to be the decisive match in deciding whether they advance to the quarterfinals.

The Kiwis made dismissed Jamaica 5-0 with reassuring easy, but Waikato's Joe Wu said there was nothing easy about the opening day of competition a venue that felt as new as it was empty.

''You couldn't call today comfortable because we were all so nervous,'' he said. ''It was just about getting our nerves right and our mindset right, so tomorrow we can get right into it.

''Certainly for me today I was so nervous because there was live TV and bright lights, it was quite nerve racking.''

In fact during our interview Wu is almost in awe of Malaysian world champion who is having his racquet strung on the practice court.

The tall Asian superstar had a smash clocked once at 426kmh, a mind boggling feat of timing and power.

But it is pulling back the throttle that is occupying the minds of the Commonwealth's best exponents of badminton with hundreds of shots on day one sailing over the back court to puzzled exasperation.

''It was quite warm in here, so maybe they didn't have it on full blast but there was a good breeze,'' Wu said.

''There's a bit to get used to and there is clearly a faster end and a slower end, so you have to adjust and hopefully we can do that again tomorrow.

''When I changed ends the other guy hit so many out the back. It's hard to say what will be easier. Probably into it because you don't put it long so much, but then into it you need to be careful because if you do it too short they just smack it down.''

New Zealand coach Thanabalan Arikrishnan said he had raised the issue of the breeze with Games organisers and had been assured it would be fixed overnight.