The 1967 Thomas Cup was the seventh tournament of

Thomas Cup The Thomas Cup, sometimes referred as 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 racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

team competition in the world. The inter-zone matches and Challenge Round finale were held in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

won its fourth title after beating

in the Challenge Round under unusual circumstances. With Malaysia leading Indonesia 4 matches to 3 in the best of nine series, play was suspended during the eighth match due to unruly crowd behavior (see ''Challenge round'' below). This contest was noteworthy for other reasons as well: the old met the new. Indonesia's

Rudy Hartono Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (born Nio Hap Liang ( zh, s=梁海量, p=Liáng Hǎiliàng, poj=Niô͘ Hái-liâng); 18 August 1949) is an Indonesian former badminton player holding the record of winning the men's singles title at the All-England Champio ...

, not yet 18, burst onto the scene as did other new stars such as Denmark's Svend Andersen (Pri) and Japan's Ippei Kojima. It was the last Thomas Cup, and a sad exit, for Hartono's teammate Ferry Sonneville who was more than twice Hartono's age. It was also the last time

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 ...

played in the inter-zone matches and the last inter-zone appearance for other veterans such as Malaysia's Teh Kew San and the USA's Jim Poole.

Qualification

The competition initially involved 23 nations, though two of these,

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

(a major men's badminton power at that time) declined to play their opening ties (sets of matches). The draw was made up of four zones; Asian, European, American, and Australasian; with the winners of each zone then competing for the right to play defending champion Indonesia in the Challenge Round. A powerful Malaysian team coasted through the Asian zone by beating

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and then

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, each with the loss of one match (8-1). The European zone provided the largest number of closely fought ties. In one zone semifinal

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

nearly upset perennial zone winner

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, losing the last two matches to go down 4 matches to 5.

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

upset

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

6 to 3 in the other semifinal, but was no match for Denmark (1-8) in the final. In the final of the American zone the USA narrowly defeated

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

5 to 4.

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

easily defeated

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(9-0) and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(9-0) in the Australasian zone to reserve its place in the inter-zone competition.Pat Davis. The ''Guinness Book of Badminton'' (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 123.

Squads

Knockout stage

The following teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1967 Thomas Cup. Defending champion and host Indonesia automatically qualified to defend their title.

Qualification

Squads

Knockout stage

Bracket

First round

Second round

Final

References

External links