The 1958 Thomas Cup competition is an international team tournament for supremacy in men's

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 p ...

(its female counterpart is the

Uber Cup The Uber Cup, sometimes called the World Women's Team Championships, is a major international badminton competition contested by women's national badminton teams. First held in 1956–1957 and contested at three year intervals, it has been contes ...

). Beginning in 1948–49 it was held every three years until 1982 and has been held every two years thereafter. Nineteen teams contested for the Thomas Cup during the 1957-1958 season. As defending champion Malaya (now Malaysia) was exempt until the conclusive ''tie'' (team match) called the challenge round. The other eighteen teams were divided into four qualifying zones; Asia, Australasia, Europe, and Pan America; with the winners of each intra-zone competition advancing to inter-zone competition in Singapore to determine a challenger to Malaya. For a more detailed description of the Thomas Cup format see Wikipedia's general article on the

Thomas Cup The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships ha ...

Intra-zone summary

Winner of the previous two Asian zone competitions,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

was decisively beaten 8–1 in the first round by a fast improving

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. Thailand went on to win the zone by shutting out

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

(9–0). In the Australasian zone, first time participant

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

served notice of international badminton's future by shutting out both

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia to advance to inter-zone play.

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

again advanced easily through the European zone. The Danes now boasted newly crowned

All-England The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the Badminton World Federation, BWF's latest grading system, it was given BWF Super Series, Super Series st ...

singles champion

Erland Kops Erland Kops (14 January 1937 – 18 February 2017) was a badminton player from Denmark who won numerous major international singles and doubles titles from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Early life Kops was born in 1937. His uncles were ...

along with Finn Kobbero, two exceptionally talented players, both in their early twenties. For the third straight time only

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

contested in the Pan America zone. The all-Californian U.S. squad shut out a Canadian team whose best players in past meetings between the two were now either long in years or losing interest.

Inter-zone playoffs

Teams

;

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

;

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologi ...

;

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

;

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

* Malaya (exempt until ''challenge round'') The results of the inter-zone ties in Singapore gave ample evidence of both the growing popularity of the sport in the Far East and the advantage these nations enjoyed competing against "outsiders" in a tropical climate. Showing strength and balance in singles and doubles, Thailand sent the USA home with a 7–2 defeat. A curiously revealing match in this tie was the victory of Thailand's Subhabhan and Sudthivanich over the strong U.S. veterans Alston and

Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) * Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...

, 18-14 in the third game after dropping the first game at zero. More stunning, and ominous for Malaya, was newcomer Indonesia's 6–3 victory over a highly rated Danish contingent. Erland Kops was beaten by both the internationally experienced

Ferry Sonneville Ferdinand Alexander "Ferry" Sonneville (3 January 1931 – 20 November 2003) was an Indonesian badminton player noted for his touch, consistency, tactical astuteness, and coolness under pressure. He won numerous international singles titles fr ...

and by young sensation

Tan Joe Hok Tan or TAN may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...

. Even the powerful Danish doubles pairing of Finn Kobbero and

Jorgen Hammergaard Hansen Jorgen may refer to: *Jørgen, a Scandinavian masculine given name *Jörgen Jörgen is a village in the municipality of Tieschen in the '' Bezirk'' of Südoststeiermark in the Federal State of Styria in Austria. Its population was 159 in 201 ...

could earn only a split in two matches. Indonesia went on to comfortably defeat Thailand in the inter-zone final 8–1. In another bad sign for Malaya, Thailand 's top two singles players, Charoen Wattanasin and Thanoo Khajadbhye, respected internationals who had dropped only one singles match between them in the campaign prior to playing Indonesia, were each decisively beaten by both Sonneville and Tan Joe Hok. Thailand won one doubles, though all four of these matches went to three games.

First round

Final round

Challenge round

The challenge round played in the middle of June brought Malaya's nine year Thomas Cup reign to an end. With Wong Peng Soon retired, Eddie Choong's game showing recent vulnerability, and some controversy over the selection of team members still percolating, Malayan confidence might have been low from the start. The three-time defending champions were unable to win any of the singles matches against Indonesia and eventually lost the tie 3–6. Choong was twice beaten routinely in straight games and was booed off the court by his countrymen. Malaya's other top singles player, Teh Kew San, nearly broke through against Sonneville but finally went down 16-18 in the third. At least one of Malaya's doubles wins appeared to be a gift after the outcome had been determined. Indonesia's Tan Joe Hok went through the entire Thomas Cup campaign undefeated in singles (Sonneville had dropped a match to Finn Kobbero). Tan would win the

singles title the following year and for a time would be regarded as the best player in the world. For a much longer time Indonesia would be the country to beat in international team badminton.

References

tangkis.tripod.com

*Herbert Scheele ed., The ''International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1967'' (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1967) 74–78. *Pat Davis, The ''Guinness Book of Badminton'' (Enfield, Middlesex, England: 1983) 121, 122. {{TUC

Thomas & Uber Cup T T Thom 1958 in Malayan sport