Ippei Kojima

Ippei Kojima (born 1944) is a former Japanese badminton player who won Japanese national titles and major international titles from the mid 1960's to the mid 1970's. His game was marked by exceptional foot speed, great tenacity, and power surprising for a man who stood no more, and perhaps less, than five feet (1.524 meters) tall. Kojima is the only Japanese player to have won men's singles at the prestigious Danish Open (1970). He also shared the Danish Open men's doubles title, with different partners, in 1968 and 1969 [Herbert Scheele, The "International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1971" (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1971) 152, 153.] . Perhaps the most notable matches of his career were a series of close but losing singles efforts against the iconic Rudy Hartono in Thomas Cup, the All-Englands, and other major venues in 1970 and 1971 [Herbert Scheele, The "International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1971" (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1971) 45.] ["Danish National Championships", "Badminton USA", May 1971, 23.] .

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