Wolfgang Bochow (26 May 1944 – 14 September 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 p ...

player from

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 ...

who rated among the world's best in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Tall and powerful, he had one of the strongest backhands in the game.

Career

Bochow won the gold medal at the 1972 European Badminton Championships in men's singles. Between

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. * Janu ...

and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

he won eight other medals at this biennial event; three bronzes and a silver in mixed doubles, a silver and two bronzes in singles, and a bronze in men's doubles. Bochow was a men's singles semi-finalist in the 1971 All-England Championships and an

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 ...

mixed doubles finalist with Irmgard Latz (Gerlatzka) in 1970.http://www.dillesport.dk/sportspc/AllEngland/allmx.uk.html He was the bronze medalist at the

1972 Munich Olympic Games The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

in the singles discipline when badminton was played as a demonstration sport. Bochow won 15 German National titles between 1963 and 1975, 8 in men's singles, 2 in men's doubles and 5 in mixed doubles.

References

External links

* 1944 births German male badminton players Badminton players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Braunschweig Recipients of the Silver Laurel Leaf 2017 deaths {{Germany-badminton-bio-stub