Australia edged New Zealand in the final of the Oceania Mixed Team Badminton Championships to win the title for a fifth consecutive year ©Badminton Oceania

Australia edged rivals New Zealand to win the Oceania Mixed Team Badminton Championships for the fifth consecutive year in Melbourne.

The two teams had eased through their group stage matches on the opening two days of the competition at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, recording 5-0 triumphs in each of their ties.

It left the top two seeds going head-to-head on the final day for the continental title, as well as the Whyte Trophy, a prize exclusively played for by Australia and New Zealand.

Defending champions Australia took an early lead with Matthew Chau and Setyana Mapasa securing a 21-12, 21-15 victory over Abhinav Manota and Anona Pak in the mixed doubles.

Oscar Guo responded for New Zealand by beating Anthony Joe 21-16, 21-10 in the men’s singles to level the score.

Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen restored Australia’s lead by coming from a game down to beat Dally Fu 19-21, 21-11, 21-14 in the women’s singles event.

Chau and Simon Wing Hang Leung appeared on course to secure victory for Australia when they took the opening game of the men’s doubles 21-19.

A strong response from Manota and Dacmen Vong saw New Zealand level the overall match again, with the duo battling back to win the doubles clash 19-21, 21-18, 21-10.

The result left the Oceania title resting on the women’s doubles match.

Mapasa combined impressively with Gronya Somerville to ensure Australia retained their title, as the duo won 21-9, 21-11 against Erena Calder-Hawkins and Alyssa Tagle to seal a 3-2 win for the top seeds.

Australia overcame New Zealand 3-2 in both the open and junior events to secure double gold medals ©Badminton Oceania
Australia overcame New Zealand 3-2 in both the open and junior events to secure double gold medals ©Badminton Oceania

New Caledonia beat Guam 5-0 in their final match of the round robin event to secure a surprise bronze medal.

They finished ahead of third seeds Tahiti, who ended fourth in the standings after overcoming Fiji 5-1 in their last tie.

Fiji ended fifth overall, ahead of Guam and Samoa.

Australia were also able to celebrate claiming the junior title after their team beat top seeds New Zealand in the final.

The hosts secured a 3-2 win in the gold medal match.

Tahiti justified their status as third seeds by beating New Caledonia 5-0 to win bronze, while Tonga beat the Cook Islands 4-1 to finish fifth.

Fiji won 5-0 against Samoa in the playoff for seventh.