NEW ZEALAND
The 2026 GJ Gardner Homes New Zealand Beach Tour served off with its first event of the season, held last week at Lake Karapiro. The first women’s gold of the year went to seventh-seeded Non Matsumoto & Ren Matsumoto of Japan (pictured in the main photo; source: G.J. Gardner Homes NZ Beach Tour). In Sunday’s final, they mastered a convincing 2-0 (21-14, 21-11) upset of top-seeded Shaunna Polley & Olivia MacDonald. In the third-place playoff, the mixed duo of New Zealand’s Meile Rose Green and USA’s Kayla Cook achieved a 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) victory over Americans Megan Gebhard & Jenna Belton to claim bronze.
Joshua Tiplady & Gregory David Vukets emerged as the winners of the men’s tournament. They produced a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) sweep of the gold medal showdown against Timothee Philippe & Lewis Jupp. Top-seeded Juraj Krajci & James Sadlier settled for bronze after their third-place match opponents Michael Tyler & Seth Grant forfeited the game.
