1976 Thomas Cup

The 1976 Thomas Cup was the 10th edition of Thomas Cup, the world championship of men's international team badminton (its female counterpart is the Uber Cup). The final rounds contested by qualifying teams were held in Bangkok, Thailand in late May and early June. First played in 1948-1949, the Thomas Cup competition was held every three years after that until 1982 and has been held every two years since. For more details on the format of past and present Thomas Cup competition see Wikipedia's general article on the Thomas Cup.

Indonesia won its sixth title after beating Malaysia in the final round.

Teams

26 teams from 4 regions took part in the competition. As defending champion, Indonesia skipped the qualifications and played directly in the second round of the "inter-zone" ties (team matches), effectively the semifinals of the tournament. As host nation to the inter-zone phase of the tournament, Thailand was exempt from qualifications and played directly in the first round of the inter-zone ties.

;Australasian zone
*"bd|INA" (exempt from qualifying rounds)
*bd|AUS
*bd|IRN
*bd|NZL
*bd|ROC

;Asian zone
*bd|JPN
*bd|HKG
*bd|KOR
*bd|PAK
*bd|Burma
*bd|SIN
*bd|Sri Lanka
*bd|IND
*bd|THA (exempt from qualifying rounds)
*bd|MAS

;European zone
*bd|ENG
*bd|SCO
*bd|NED
*bd|GER|name=FR Germany
*bd|FIN
*bd|DEN
*bd|SWE

;Panamerican zone
*bd|CAN
*bd|USA
*bd|MEX
*bd|PER

Qualification (Intra-zone) summary

Denmark again prevailed in the European zone but only after two tough battles. In the zone semifinal against England Flemming Delfs and Elo Hansen led the way to a 6–3 victory, as Svend Pri, recovering from injury, was kept out of the doubles. Englishman David Eddy's unbeaten record in Thomas Cup play for England dating from the 1969-1970 series was broken in the second set of doubles matches, but only after the outcome of the tie had been determined. In the zone final against Sweden, which had beaten West Germany comfortably, Denmark's slightly greater depth enabled it to survive 5–4 in the last match of the tie. [Pat Davis. The "Guinness Book of Badminton" (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 126.] Veteran singles star Sture Johnsson still excelled for Sweden, but its team now depended most on Thomas Kihlstrom, something of a late bloomer, but fast becoming one of the best all-around players in the world.

Canada won the Pan American zone by defeating the USA and Mexico , both by 6–3 scores. Against the USA it swept the five singles matches to more than offset a doubles deficit. It was almost the reverse against Mexico, with Canada losing three of the five singles but sweeping the doubles. Notable in the tie between Canada and the USA was the creditable play of a bevy of ultra-veterans: Wayne MacDonnell (who won two singles matches), Channarong Ratanaseangsuang, and Raphi Kanchanaraphi, for Canada, all in their mid to late thirties, and 44 year old Jim Poole for the U.S. ["Canada defeats U.S.," "Badminton USA", February 1976, 4.] In the Canada versus Mexico tie, Mexico's Roy Diaz Gonzalez, playing in his third Cup series at only 22, remained undefeated in Pan American zone singles ["Thomas Cup," "Badminton USA", March 1976, 4.]

With Iran and Taiwan defaulting opening ties in the Australasian zone, New Zealand needed only to defeat Australia (9–0; though some matches were close) to advance to the inter-zone playoffs for the second time. It was the fifth campaign for New Zealand's Richard Purser whose Thomas Cup experience dated from the days when Australia had the upper hand between the two. ["New Zealand's Easy Success," "World Badminton", December 1975, 4.]

The Asian zone, usually the most formidable one in the Thomas Cup draw, seemed to offer better odds to dark-horse contenders this time. Indonesia as defending champion was once again exempt from the qualifying rounds, as was 1973 zone winner Thailand as host nation to the inter-zone ties. The typically talented Malaysian and Japanese squads were each in something of an intergenerational transition. Malaysia's well known players of the late 1960's and early 1970's had all retired and Ippei Kojima was the last mainstay from Japan's highly competitive teams of 1967 and 1970. Nonetheless, Japan easily advanced over Hong Kong and South Korea in the eastern section of the draw. In the western section India relied on 20 year old Prakash Padukone's wins in both of his singles and both of his doubles matches to narrowly defeat an improved Pakistan 5–4 ["India's Narrow Victory over Pakistan," "World Badminton", February-March 1976, 4.] . In the next round, against a very young and green Malaysian team, three Padukone wins put India on the verge of victory at 4–1. Malaysia, however, won all the remaining matches, the last when Padukone and Asif Parpia were beaten in three games by Cheah Hong Chong and Dominic Soong, to advance to the zone final ["Thomas Cup," "Badminton USA", March 1976, 4.] . There the young Malaysians defeated Japan 6–3, thus helping to assuage the memory of Malaysia's collapse in the zone final against Thailand in 1973.

Inter-zone playoffs

First round

References

* [http://tangkis.tripod.com/thomas/final76.htm Smash: 1975-76 Thomas Cup - Challenge Round] ;Cited

External links

* [http://www.internationalbadminton.org/tc_1975-76.html Thomas Cup (1975-76) Results] at "Badminton World Federation"