Erland Kops (14 January 1937 – 18 February 2017) was a

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 ...

player from

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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 the boxers Ebbe and

Poul Kops Poul Børge Kops (September 19, 1915 – February 23, 2000) was a Danish boxer who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was born in Pedersborg, Sorø municipality and was the older brother of Ebbe Kops. In 1936 he finished fourth in the ...

who both competed at the Summer Olympics. Erland Kops began to play badminton in

Københavns Badminton Klub Københavns Badminton Klub (KBK) is a badminton club in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest and largest badminton clubs in the country and has won the Danish Badminton League 18 times. History Københavns Badminton Klub was founded in 19 ...

in 1948. He worked for East Asiatic Company in

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 bo ...

from 1958 to 1960.

Career

In 1958, Erland Kops brought an end to eight years of dominance of by Malayan players at the

All England Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...

by winning its Men's Singles event. Kops was also among the first Westerners to win major singles titles in the Far East. He combined abundant speed, power, and stamina with impressive shot-making virtuosity. Despite some disappointing results in the late rounds 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 ...

(men's international team) competition, Kops was clearly the dominant tournament men's singles player and one of the dominant men's doubles players of his era. He is one of the most successful players ever in the

All England Open Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...

, with 11 titles between 1958 and 1967 - 7 of them in men's singles and 4 in men's doubles - breaking the Irish player

Frank Devlin Joseph Francis Devlin (19 January 1900 – 27 October 1988) was an Irish male badminton player. Badminton career Devlin is the second most successful player ever in the All England Open Badminton Championships with 18 titles between 1925 ...

´s record of six titles. Erland Kops also won 5 times the Danish Championships in men's singles and 4 in men's doubles. In the Nordic Championships, Erland Kops obtained the title 5 times in the men's singles category, 3 times in men's doubles and 2 more times in mixed doubles. Kops played 44 national matches for

from 1957-1972. With no surprise, Erland Kops was among the first group of badminton players inducted into the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1997, and was the first player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Badminton Europe Confederation (BEC) in 2013. As a recognition for his sporting achievements, Erland Kops has been honoured with a Knighthood from the Danish Queen, an Honorary Membership of The Danish Sports Federation, an Honorary Membership of Badminton Denmark, the Herbert Scheele Trophy from the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

, and being inducted to the Hall of Fame of Danish Sport, as well as being elected the second best Sportsman in

of the 20th century.

All England performance

In 1957, Erland Kops lost the final to the Malayan player Eddie B. Choong, but one year later he defeated

Finn Kobberø Finn Kobberø (13 March 1936 – 21 January 2009) was a badminton player from Denmark, who won numerous international titles in all of badminton's three events (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s. Career ...

in the final. In 1959,

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 ...

- from Indonesia - won the championship, then, Erland Kops won it from 1960 to 1963. Finally, Erland Kops won it again two more times in 1965 and 1967. In men´s doubles, Erland Kops won the competition teaming up with

Poul-Erik Nielsen Poul-Erik Nielsen (10 April 1931 – 14 January 2023) was a Danish badminton player. He was a doubles specialist winning three All England titles with partners Erland Kops, Finn Kobberø and Inge Birgit Hansen and reached five more finals. He h ...

in 1958 and together with

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 ...

from 1967 to 1969. Kops lost three finals in men's doubles - in 1961 and 1964 together with

and against Jorgen Hammergaard /

, and in 1965 with the Malaysian Oon Choong Jin and against

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

Tan Yee Khan Dato' Tan Yee Khan (; born 24 September 1940) is a former Malaysian badminton player who represented his country in badminton events around the world during the 1960s. Career Though capable of high level singles (he won Japan's "World Invi ...

. * 1958: Champion - vs

(

) * 1960: Champion - vs

Charoen Wattanasin Charoen Wattanasin () (born 1937) is a former badminton player from Thailand who won international championships in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Career Between 1958 and 1962 Wattanasin captured the open men's singles titles of Malaya, Ire ...

(

) * 1961: Champion - vs

(

) * 1962: Champion - vs

(

) * 1963: Champion - vs Channarong Ratanasaengsuang (

) * 1965: Champion - vs Tan Aik Huang (

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 ...

) * 1967: Champion - vs Tan Aik Huang (

)

Achievements

International tournaments

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

References

External links

Erland Kops's Profile - Badminton.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kops, Erland 1937 births 2017 deaths Danish male badminton players Sportspeople from Copenhagen Indian national badminton champions