The 1970 Thomas Cup was the eighth tournament of

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 h ...

, the most important 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 pe ...

team competition in the world. The final set of ''ties'' (team matches) were held in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

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 ...

won its fourth title after beating

in the Final Round.

Teams

25 teams took part in the competition, 3 of them in the Australasian Zone, 8 in the Asian Zone, 9 in the European Zone and 5 in the Pan American Zone. As defending champion, Malaysia received a bye through the zone qualifications and the first round of Inter-zone ties, and played directly in the second round of inter-zone ties (the semifinal round of the entire tournament). ;Australasian Zone * * * ;Asian Zone *' * * * * * * * ;European Zone * * * * * * * * * ;Panamerican Zone * * * * *

Qualifications

Australasian zone

First round

Final round

Asian zone

Final round

European zone

First round

Second round

Third round

Final round

Panamerican zone

First round

Second round

Final round

Summary of qualification (Intra-zone) ties

New Zealand, led by the Purser brothers, Richard and Bryan, won the Australasian Zone for the first time by beating Australia (8-1) and Singapore (7-2). Denmark again prevailed in the European Zone. Its closest tie came in the zone semifinal against England which the Danes won six matches to three, thanks largely to Svend Pri's three victories. Three wins by

Jamie Paulson Jamie Paulson (born April 26, 1948) is a Canadian former badminton player who won national and international titles from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. In 1970 he won the men's singles at the quadrennial 1970 British Commonwealth Games making ...

were also instrumental in Canada's first ever victory (6–3) over the USA in the Pan American zone. The greatest drama came in the Asian Zone which contained several of the strongest teams in the entire competition. Indonesia, fighting to regain the cup that it had relinquished in 1967, began its quest by defeating India (7-2). It then became embroiled in yet another highly controversial tie, but this time one in which Indonesia, rather than its opponent nation, claimed to be the victim of partisanship. Facing Thailand in Bangkok, up three matches to two, Indonesia removed its player (

Muljadi Muljadi (formerly known as Ang Tjin Siang 翁振祥) was a world class badminton player who represented Indonesia between 1963 and 1973. Career Muljadi's career spanned two separate eras of Indonesian domination of the then triennial Thomas Cup ...

) from the court during the first game of the sixth match and refused to continue. Though Thailand was initially awarded the tie, 6-3, the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

upheld an Indonesian protest and ordered the tie to be continued, at three matches each in Japan, where the zone final was scheduled to be played. When Thailand refused to comply, Indonesia was awarded the match (6-3). In the zone final Indonesia faced a Japanese team which boasted one of the strongest lineups of singles players (

Ippei Kojima Ippei Kojima (born 1944) is a former Japanese badminton player who won a record eight Japanese national men's singles titles and some major international titles in both singles and doubles between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s. Career His ga ...

, Masao Akiyama, and

Junji Honma is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Junji can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *純二, "chaste, two" * 純次, "chaste, next" * 純治, "chaste, govern" * 淳司, "pure, conduct" * 淳次, " ...

) in the tournament. Indonesia finally prevailed (5-4), largely because of Rudy Hartono's four victories.

Inter-zone playoffs

Prior to the 1969-1970 Thomas Cup series the defending champion nation had been exempt from earlier play, needing only to defeat a challenger in a single, conclusive ''challenge round'' tie. Beginning with this series, however, the defending champion received a bye only to an inter-zone semifinal tie, needing to win this contest and the inter-zone final in order to retain the Cup. Malaysia, defending its title at home in Kuala Lumpur, drew a Danish team which was missing two of its leading "regulars." The veteran

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 ...

, highly critical of the IBF's (BWF's) decision to sustain Indonesia's protest against Thailand (see ''Intra-zone summary'' above), declined to play in further Thomas Cup contests. For reasons less clear, Denmark's top singles player

Svend Pri Svend Pri (earlier Svend Andersen; March 18, 1945 – June 8, 1983) was a Danish badminton player who won numerous major titles from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s. Career His play was marked by great power, tenacity, and tactical astute ...

was also unavailable. Nevertheless, Malaysia had great difficulty against a group of opponents who seemed to be less affected by the tropical heat and humidity than previous Danish squads had been. Playing first singles for Denmark, the talented Elo Hansen stunned both

Tan Aik Huang Tan Aik Huang (, born 14 February 1946) is a retired Malaysian badminton player noted for his footwork and patience. He is the elder brother of Tan Aik Mong. Career In 1966 he won men's singles at the All England Open Badminton Championshi ...

and "Punch" Gunalan in straight game, while the veteran

Henning Borch Henning Borch is a former world class badminton player from Denmark who won major tournaments from the early 1960s to the early 1970s. In the 1964 Borch reached the men's singles final at the prestigious All-England Championships, narrowly losing ...

outlasted Abdul Rahman in the third singles match. Malaysia managed to scrape home 5–4 by taking three of the four doubles matches and both singles against the Danish number two. Gunalan atoned for his loss to Hansen by decisively winning his remaining singles and doubles. In the other half of the draw, Indonesia, having barely survived the Asian zone qualification, coasted through two ties against first time inter-zone participants. It beat New Zealand without the loss of a match or a game, and Canada with almost equal ease. In eight singles games against

Rudy Hartono Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (born Nio Hap Liang (); 18 August 1949) is an Indonesian former badminton player holding the record of winning the men's singles title at the All-England Championship eight times, seven times consecutively from 1968 to 1974. ...

and

, Canada's

and

Wayne Macdonnell Wayne Macdonnell (born June 28, 1940 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a former Canadian badminton player. He was a dominant figure in Canadian badminton in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly in the men's singles events. He remained a top ranked badminto ...

could aggregate only 21 points.

First round

Second round

Final round summary

Malaysia's struggle on its home courts against Denmark had boded badly for its chances against Indonesia, but the relative ease of Indonesia's victory in the final still surprised many observers.Scheele, 23. Indonesia captured five of the first six matches, including all four at the first two singles positions, to wrest the Cup from Malaysia. Though "Punch" Gunalan was Malaysia's strongest all-around player at this time, he was also (at the comparatively late age of 26) a Thomas Cup rookie, and nerves may have played a role in his tame lead-off loss to the veteran Muljadi. He won the first of his doubles matches with the redoubtable

Ng Boon Bee Dato' Ng Boon Bee (; 17 December 1937 – 3 August 2022) was a Malaysian badminton player who excelled from the 1960s through the early 1970s. His success in doubles earned him recognition as one of greatest doubles players in badminton histo ...

and extended Rudy Hartono to three games in the fifth match of the tie, but the potential three wins which might have been expected from Gunalan's racket did not materialize. Indonesia regained the title by a final score of 7–2, in one of the very few Thomas Cup occasions that a team has had much more difficulty in qualifying for the final set of ties than in winning it. Again, Hartono won all four of his matches.

Teams

Qualifications

Australasian zone

First round

Final round

Asian zone

Final round

European zone

First round

Second round

Third round

Final round

Panamerican zone

First round

Second round

Final round

Summary of qualification (Intra-zone) ties

Inter-zone playoffs

First round

Second round

Final round summary

Final round

References

External links