By Margaret Smith at Badminton Australia -

Australia produced its best result for several years when it scored victories in both Thomas and Uber cups in Invercargill, NZ, on Saturday.

In the Thomas cup, Australia's Jeff Tho (pictured) got the team away to a great start when he beat the New Zealand number one, Joe Wu, in straight games. The first set was tense; going to advantage, before Tho finished it off 22-20. However in the second set, Tho was really dominant, winning 21-13.

Australia has once again announced itself as Oceania’s strongest badminton nation with a resounding 5-0 victory over New Zealand in Invercagill.

The Kiwis strongest challenge came in the form of the mixed doubles pairing of Donna Haliday and Henry Tam who secured the first game of their match against the more experienced Aussie duo of Kate Wilson-Smith and Glenn Warfe.

Earlier in January Badminton Australia announced that they will be adopting a new tiered scholarship program for their National Squad selection process. Eleven of the country's best players were named in Tier 1 with another nine named to Tier 2.

The Victorian pairing of Glenn Warfe (pictured left) and Ben Walklate are familiar names to the badminton community, and it was little surprise that both players were named in Tier 1. Glenn won the Oceania Championships in 2008, where then twenty three year old Ben was a semi-finalist. Both players are looking forward to a massive 2010 that may even include a medal in Delhi.

Australia will send a team of four boys and four girls to the Yonex-Sunrise BWF 2009 World Junior Badminton Championships which are taking place in Malaysia in late October.

The team consists of some experienced campaigners and some new faces.

Six of the eight representatives are Victorian, indicating the strength of the sport in the southern state.