Wikipedia

1967 Thomas Cup knockout stage

The knockout stage for the 1967 Thomas Cup began on 31 May 1967 with the first-round knockout and ended on 10 June with the final tie.

Qualified teams

edit

The teams that won their zonal tie qualified for the final knockout stage.

Group Winners
CH   Indonesia
AS   Malaysia
AM   United States
AU   Japan
EU   Denmark

Bracket

edit
 
First roundSecond roundChallenge round
 
          
 
 
 
 
  Indonesia
 
 
 
Bye
 
  Indonesia
 
 
 
Bye
 
 
 
9 June 1967 – Jakarta
 
 
 
  Indonesia3
 
31 May 1967 – Jakarta
 
  Malaysia6
 
  Japan7
 
5 June 1967 – Jakarta
 
  United States2
 
  Japan3
 
31 May 1967 – Jakarta
 
  Malaysia6
 
  Denmark2
 
 
  Malaysia7
 

First round

edit

The first inter-zone tie in Jakarta pitted Denmark against Malaysia. "On paper" they were the two strongest teams in the tournament with recent major event champions such as Erland Kops, Henning Borch, and Svend Andersen (Pri) for Denmark, and Tan Aik Huang, Ng Boon Bee, and Tan Yee Khan for Malaysia. With wins by Kops in singles and Andersen and Per Walsøe in doubles, Denmark was able to stay even (2–2) on the first night of play. On the second night, however, a familiar pattern recurred for the tropically challenged Danes as they wilted in the heat to drop all five matches. In the other semifinal Japan's tiny but "jet-propelled" Ippei Kojima won all four of his matches to trump a crowd-pleasing performance by 35-year-old Jim Poole and lead his team to a 7–2 victory over the USA.

Japan vs United States

edit

Denmark vs Malaysia

edit

Second round

edit

The inter-zone final between Malaysia and Japan was less suspenseful than the 6–3 final score might indicate. Though two of the first five matches were very close Malaysia won all five to clinch the contest early. The powerful doubles team of Boon Bee and Yee Khan remained undefeated in the series while Masao Akiyama performed well in defeat for Japan.

Malaysia vs Japan

edit

Challenge round

edit

Indonesia vs Malaysia

edit

The most unusual finale in Thomas Cup history, the challenge round of the 1967 competition was full of firsts and lasts. It was the last actual challenge round since a subsequent rules change would end the defending champion's privilege of having only to defend the Cup against a single challenger. Politically, it was first Thomas Cup finale in which the former Malaya (minus Singapore but with additional territories) competed as Malaysia, and the first finale in which domestic turmoil caused Indonesian players of Chinese ethnicity to take "Indonesian" names. Thus veteran doubles player Tan King Gwan became Darmawan Supatera and Ang Tjin Siang became Muljadi. It was the first Thomas Cup appearance of Indonesia's badminton wunderkind Rudy Hartono (two months before his eighteenth birthday). It was the last appearance for Indonesia's past Thomas Cup hero Ferry Sonneville. For reasons unclear, he was pressed into service in one of the top two singles slots ahead of younger men who were by then almost certainly stronger players than the 36-year-old Sonneville. Most notably, it was the first and thus far the last final tie of Thomas Cup not to determine a champion on the court.

The first day's play ended with a 3–1 advantage to Malaysia. With relentless attacking play Hartono stunned Tan Aik Huang 15–6, 15–8, but Malaysia won both doubles matches and the singles between Yew Cheng Hoe and Sonneville. On the second night Tan Aik Huang routed Sonneville to bring Malaysia to the verge of victory. At this point, however, young Hartono comfortably beat Yew Cheng Hoe to keep Indonesia's chances alive. Then Muljadi pulled away in the second game after winning a close first to beat Malaysian veteran Teh Kew San at third singles. Still up 4–3, Malaysia sent the world's number one doubles team of Ng Boon Bee and Tan Yee Khan onto the court to gain the vital fifth point. They seemed to be doing so easily until, up 10–2 in the second after steamrolling Muljadi and Agus Susanto in the first game, a few errors crept into their play. This encouraged ebullient Indonesian fans to try to promote a Malaysian collapse by making deafening noise on Malaysian serves, using flash photography at well timed moments, and ever more loudly cheering Malaysian errors. With no help from Indonesian authorities, IBF (BWF) officials intermittently appealed for "fair play" but in vain because the crowd's tactics were working. Plainly rattled, Boon Bee and Yee Khan let a 10–2 lead slip away into a 13-18 second game loss.

At this juncture, during what would normally have been a five-minute break between games, tournament referee Herbert Scheele requested Indonesian authorities to clear the stadium and have the match continued with the crowd locked out. When this request was refused Scheele, at some personal risk, halted play. Eventually, a less than candid announcement that the match had been voluntarily suspended did help to clear the stadium, but play was never continued. Indonesia rejected a subsequent IBF (BWF) ruling that the tie be resumed in New Zealand. Thereby, it forfeited the remaining matches. Officially, if not convincingly, by a 6–3 margin Malaysia regained the Thomas Cup.[7]

^1 Play suspended and match eventually conceded to Malaysia

References

edit
  1. ^ "Poole pulls U.S. through to 2-2". The Straits Times. 3 June 1967. p. 20. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  2. ^ "Thomas Cup: Japan reach zone final". The Straits Times. 4 June 1967. p. 16. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  3. ^ "Results at a glance". The Straits Times. 1 June 1967. p. 20. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  4. ^ "Results at a glance". The Straits Times. 2 June 1967. p. 20. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  5. ^ "4-0 Malaysia on the brink of challenge round". The Straits Times. 6 June 1967. p. 18. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  6. ^ "Malaysia in the challenge round". The Straits Times. 7 June 1967. p. 22. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  7. ^ "tangkis.tripod.com". Archived from the original on December 14, 2006.
  8. ^ "Malaysia show power for 3-1 lead". The Straits Times. 10 June 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
  9. ^ "Wild crowd stops Thomas Cup final". The Straits Times. 11 June 1967. p. 1. Retrieved 7 July 2024 – via NewspaperSG.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1967_Thomas_Cup_knockout_stage&oldid=1233927211"