1952 Thomas Cup

The Thomas Cup competition is an international team tournament for supremacy in men's badminton (its female counterpart is the Uber Cup). Beginning in 1948-1949, it was held every three years until 1982 and thereafter has been held every two years. Twelve national teams contested for the Thomas Cup in the 1951-1952 badminton season, the tournament's second edition. According to the rules then in place Malaya was exempt from earlier "ties" (team matches), needing only to defend its title in a conclusive challenge round tie. The other contestants were divided into three regional qualifying zones, the Pacific, Europe, and Pan America, for the early ties. The winners of each zone then played-off in Malaya for the right to face Malaya in the challenge round. For a more detailed description of the Thomas Cup format see Wikipedia's general article on the Thomas Cup.

Intra-zone summary

India qualified in the Pacific zone by beating newcomers Thailand and Australia without the loss of a match (thus, 9–0 in each case). Six of the twelve teams in the tournament contested in the European zone. Here Denmark emerged victorious, but not without a tough fight from Sweden (6–3) in the zone semifinal. In the Pan American zone with only two teams, the United States defeated Canada 6–3, trumping a fine performance by Canada's
Don Smythe.

Inter-zone playoffs

The following four teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1952 Thomas Cup. Defending champion and host Malaya automatically qualified to defend the title it had won three years previously.

;Americas
*flagicon|USA United States

;Pacific
*flagicon|IND India
*flagicon|Malaya Malaya (Exempt until "challenge round")

;Europe
*flagicon|DEN Denmark

In a three way single elimination tournament within a tournament, the USA received the bye and awaited the winner of the tie between Denmark and India. The results here surprised some as the Danes, affected more by Kuala Lumpur's heat and humidity, were defeated 3–6. Either Trilok Nath Seth or Devinder Mohan Lal figured in all of the matches won by India. Three days later in Singapore, however, thirty-six year old Marten Mendez, who seemed to draw strength from the 40 degree Celsius heat inside Happy World Stadium, beat both Seth and Devinder in singles, helping The USA to a 4–1 lead. India then gamely fought back to win a series of close matches and pull even at four matches each. It was left to the strong U.S. doubles team of Joe Alston and Wynn Rogers to fight back from near defeat in the final match and clinch the victory for the Americans.

References

* [http://tangkis.tripod.com/thomas/final52.htm Smash: 1951-52 Thomas Cup - Final Round]
*Herbert Scheele ed., The "International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1967" (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1967) 66–69.
*Pat Davis, The "Guinness Book of Badminton" (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 120, 121.

External links

* [http://www.internationalbadminton.org/tc_1951-52.html Thomas Cup (1951-52) Results] at "Badminton World Federation"