Heather Jean Robson (née Redwood, 6 May 1928 – 11 October 2019) was a New Zealand

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player.

Early life and family

Born on 6 May 1928 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, to Effie Redwood (née McLachlan) and John Addis Redwood, Robson was educated at St Cuthbert's College. In 1953 she married Jeffrey Ellis Robson, who also played international badminton for New Zealand. The couple went on to have one child.

Sporting career

Tennis

In tennis Robson won both the New Zealand women's doubles and mixed doubles titles. She competed at Wimbledon twice, in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. In 1954 she reached the third round of the singles, third round of the doubles (playing with Judy Burke), and third round of the mixed doubles (with her husband Jeff). Three years later she progressed to the second round of the singles, quarter-finals of the doubles (with

Ruia Morrison Dame Ruia Mereana Morrison (born 8 May 1936) is a retired New Zealand tennis player. Morrison was the first New Zealand woman and the first Māori people, Māori person to play at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon and reached the quarter ...

), and fourth round of the mixed doubles (again with husband Jeff).

Badminton

As a badminton player Robson won seven New Zealand singles championships, and also won nine national women's doubles and three mixed doubles titles, playing with her husband. In 1954 she reached the semi-finals of the singles at

All England Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...

and won the Irish singles title.

Administration

At various times, Robson served as president of Auckland Tennis, Auckland Badminton,

Badminton New Zealand Badminton New Zealand is the badminton organisation in New Zealand which was established in 1927 under the stewardship of Archdeacon Ralph Creed Meredith of Whanganui, one of its first champions, and became a founding member of Badminton World ...

. and

Badminton Oceania Badminton Oceania (BO) is the sports governing body, governing body of badminton in Oceania. It is one of the 5 continental bodies under the flag of the Badminton World Federation (BWF). As of 2017, the confederation has 15 member countries. Papu ...

Honours and awards

In 1988 Robson received a meritorious service award from the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

. She was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to racquet sports, in the

2001 New Year Honours The 2001 New Year Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British honours system, where New Year's Day, 1 January, is marked in several Commonwealth countries by appointing new members of orders of chivalry and recipient ...

. In 2013 the

presented Robson with its lifetime achievement award.

Death

Robson died in Auckland on 11 October 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robson, Heather 1928 births 2019 deaths New Zealand female badminton players New Zealand female tennis players Sportspeople from Auckland People educated at St Cuthbert's College, Auckland New Zealand sports executives and administrators Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Tennis players from Auckland 20th-century New Zealand women