April 29th TheStar THEY have only trained three times together in their preparation for the Thomas Cup Finals but for South African brothers Roelof and Christoffel Dednam, sweating it out in the same league as the big guns is a big achievement. Yesterday, South Africa powered by Roelof-Christoffel were whitewashed 0-5 by Denmark in their opening Group D tie. It is the second time that South Africa are featuring in the Finals. They made their debut in Jakarta two years ago when the Finals were expanded from eight to 12 teams to have full continental representation. The 21-year-old Roelof, who is two years younger than Christoffel, was ecstatic just to be in Japan. “In a year, we probably train five times together. My home (at Bloemfontein) is about 1,000km from Willem (at Capetown),” he Roelof. “Prior to the Finals, we had a three-day Open tournament at home and that was our training ground for the Finals here.” Roelof, who started playing badminton three years ago, also has big dreams for South African badminton. “It is great for us because we are currently the top team in Africa. Since our debut in the Finals two years ago, there have been some improvement,” said Roelof. “We are now ranked 59th in the world. This is an improvement and we plan to break into the top 20. Hopefully, our team will get among the top 10 in future. This may take a while but we are on the right track.” South Africans are also represented in the Uber Cup Finals. Their four-member team comprise Michelle Edwards, Kerry-Lee Harrington, Stacey Doubell and Jade Morgan.
