Judy Devlin (later Judy Hashman) (born 22 October 1935 in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
) is a former
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 who won more major international titles than any other player of her era.
Devlin began playing badminton with her Irish-born father
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 ...
when she was seven in the Baltimore, Maryland region of the U.S.A. where her family had settled. Under her father's tutelage she developed a badminton game notable for its power, accuracy, and consistency. After dominating U.S. junior competition she won her first (adult) U.S. championship event, women's doubles, with her older sister
Susan Devlin in 1953. This marked the beginning of the run of success listed below. She married Dick Hashman in 1960, living in England thereafter and eventually becoming a British citizen.
Career
Competing before the establishment of an official
world championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
for individual players and before badminton's entry into the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, Devlin won 86 national and international titles. Among these are 31 titles in the
USA
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 ...
, 8 titles in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, 7 titles in
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 ...
, 4 titles in
the Netherlands
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, 4 titles in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, 3 titles in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, 3 titles in Jamaica, 2 titles in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, and a combined 19 titles in
All England Open and
English National competition. She played on U.S.
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 ...
teams that won three successive world championships (1957, 1960, 1963). In 1972 she won 2 titles (team and women's doubles) at the
European Badminton Championships
The European Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Europe (BE). The first of these competitions was held in 1968. The competition was held once every two years to determine the best badminton players in Europe. Europ ...
. She retired in 1973.
From 1954 to 1967 Devlin dominated the women's singles event at the
U.S. Open, winning 12 titles in 14 years, including 8 consecutive championships from 1956 to 1963.
Judy Devlin is the third most successful player ever in 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 ...
, with 17 titles, 10 of them in women's singles and 7 in women's doubles.
She appeared as a castaway on the
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
programme ''
Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...
'' on 21 March 1970,
and was inducted into the
Badminton Hall of Fame The Badminton Hall of Fame honors players who have shown exceptional skill at 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 form ...
in 1997, together with her father. She has also been inducted into the U. S. Badminton Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.
Achievements
European Championships
Record at the All England Championships
Other International tournaments
References
External links
Goucher College Athletics Hall of FameSports Biographies – Devlin, Judy (Mrs. Hashman)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devlin, Judy
1935 births
Living people
American female badminton players
English female badminton players
Goucher College alumni
Sportspeople from Winnipeg
21st-century American women