Sture Johnsson (born 1945) is a retired

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

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 ...

who won numerous Swedish national and international men's singles titles. His game was characterized by impressive stamina and mobility, and a powerful overhead smash.

Career

Johnsson won men's singles at the first

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 ...

in 1968. He eventually won three singles titles at this biennial event (

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

), a total bested only by

Peter Gade } Peter Høeg Gade (born 14 December 1976 in Aalborg, Denmark)BWF World Ranking
Bwfbadmint ...

in the early 2000s. He won the World Invitational Championships in 1971 held in Glasgow and reached the semifinals of men's singles at the All-England Championships on four occasions and was one of only a very few players to beat

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. ...

in tournament play during Hartono's prime (semifinals of 1973 German Open). Johnsson was a member of six consecutive Swedish Thomas Cup teams between

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. He also competed at the first ever

IBF World Championships The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious ...

in Malmö, in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, and was defeated in quarterfinals by the eventual champion

Flemming Delfs Flemming Delfs (born September 7, 1951) is a former Danish badminton player who was world no. 1 in 1977. He won the All England Championship, the European and the World Championship in the 1970s. Career Delfs is especially noteworthy for winni ...

."Badminton's first world championships", ''World Badminton'', July–August 1977, 3.

1972 Summer Olympics

Johnsson competed in

badminton at the 1972 Summer Olympics Badminton was one of two demonstration sports at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. It was the first time that the sport was part of the Olympic program, and it would become an official Olympic sport 20 years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics. ...

, as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

competition. In men's singles, he lost in semifinals against

, 15-2, 15-4. In mixed doubles he played with Eva Twedberg, and they were beaten in the first round by

Roland Maywald Roland Maywald (born 1948) is a former German badminton player who won numerous (West) German national and other European titles from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. Career Though he won the German national singles title in 1974, Maywald ...

and

Brigitte Steden Brigitte Gertrud Steden also known as Brigitte Potthoff and Brigitte Pickartz (16 March 1949 – 14 April 1999) was a badminton player from Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Achievements

European Championships

''Men's singles''

Other achievements

References

External links

* Living people Swedish male badminton players Badminton players at the 1972 Summer Olympics 1945 births Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County People from Mölndal Municipality 20th-century Swedish people {{Sweden-badminton-bio-stub