| Tournament details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 24 May – 2 June 1979 | ||
| Edition | 11th | ||
| Level | International | ||
| Nations | 5 | ||
| Venue | Istora Senayan | ||
| Location | Jakarta,Indonesia | ||
| |||
The1979 Thomas Cup was the 11th edition of theThomas Cup competition, the world championship of men's international teambadminton. The final rounds contested by qualifying zone winners and defending championsIndonesia were held at theIstora Senayan inJakarta,Indonesia in late May and early June. First played in1948–49, the Thomas Cup competition was held every three years until1982, and since then has been held every two years.
Indonesia won its seventh title after beatingDenmark in the final round.
21 teams from 4 regions took part in the competition. As defending champion, Indonesia skipped the Qualifications and the first round, and played directly in the second round (semifinal) of the Inter-Zone Ties.
| Means of qualification | Date | Venue | Slot | Qualified teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 Thomas Cup | 25 May – 5 June 1976 | Bangkok | 1 |  Indonesia |
| Asian Zone | 24–25 February 1979 | Kuala Lumpur | 1 |  India |
| American Zone | 13 January 1979 – 28 February 1979 | Lima Ottawa | 1 |  Canada |
| European Zone | 19 October 1978 – 18 February 1979 | Brussels Carlisle Haarlem Heerlen Oslo Sunderland Umeå | 1 |  Denmark |
| Australasian Zone | 27 August – 24 September 1978 | Invercargill Perth | 1 |  Japan |
| Total | 5 | |||
Political disputes played a significant role in the 1978–1979 Thomas Cup series. Though thePeople's Republic of China had been producing players of astonishing ability[according to whom?] since the mid-1960s, its entry into theInternational Badminton Federation (now theBadminton World Federation) had been delayed for years over theTaiwan issue. In 1978 the PRC took the step of fostering a rival international badminton organization and running its own version of a world championship (for individual players) in 1979.
The Asian zone all but disappeared in the political upheaval, as four national teams, including traditionally strongThailand, either withdrew or were scratched from the competition. This left onlyIndia to visitMalaysia in a replay of their1976 tie (team match), which Malaysia had won after trailing 1–4. Those young Malaysians had gone on to reach the tournament final but none had since developed into true world-class stars. Thus India, on the strength of three wins byPrakash Padukone, was able to avenge its 1976 loss in another extremely close contest (5–4) and win the Asian zone for the first time since1955.[1]
Competing in the Australasian zone for the first time since the1966-1967 series,Japan encountered strong opposition from hostNew Zealand but survived 5–4. It wasRichard Purser's sixth Thomas Cup campaign for the Kiwis. The Japanese then went on to shut outAustralia in the zone final, despite some close matches.[2]
In the European Zone,England could not take advantage of a fine performance byRay Stevens (winning only matches where he participated), and went down toSweden 3–6. The Swedes, however, were beaten in the final for the fourth consecutive time byDenmark 2–7. It was the last of five occasions in which Denmark'sSvend Pri and Sweden'sSture Johnsson played on opposite sides of a Thomas Cup tie, though they did not play directly against each other this time. YoungMorten Frost for Denmark andThomas Kihlstrom for Sweden were the leading performers in the contest.[1][3]
The fallout over these developments reached into the Pan American zone of Thomas Cup whichTaiwan (Republic of China) had entered. DrawingMexico, Taiwan agreed to drop out of the competition when the Mexican Association protested against its entry. Mexico then defaulted the zone final toCanada[4] which, effectively, won the zone by squeezing past theUSA in the semifinal 5–4. In nine Thomas Cup meetings between Canada and the United States it was the first time in which no player over 30 participated in the tie.[5]
The following teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1979 Thomas Cup. Defending champion and host Indonesia automatically qualified to defend their title.
| First round | Second round | Challenge round | ||||||||
| Indonesia | ||||||||||
| 28 May 1979 – Jakarta | ||||||||||
| Bye | ||||||||||
| Indonesia | 9 | |||||||||
| 24 May 1979 – Jakarta | ||||||||||
| Japan | 0 | |||||||||
| Canada | 1 | |||||||||
| 1 June 1979 – Jakarta | ||||||||||
| Japan | 8 | |||||||||
| Indonesia | 9 | |||||||||
| Denmark | 0 | |||||||||
| Denmark | ||||||||||
| 26 May 1979 – Jakarta | ||||||||||
| Bye | ||||||||||
| Denmark | 7 | |||||||||
| India | 2 | |||||||||
| Bye | ||||||||||
| India | ||||||||||
v Japan24 May 1979 (1979-05-24) 25 May 1979 (1979-05-25) |
| Canada | 1–8 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
Istora Senayan,Indonesia |
v India26 May 1979 (1979-05-26) 27 May 1979 (1979-05-27) |
| Denmark | 7–2 | India |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
Istora Senayan,Indonesia |
v Japan28 May 1979 (1979-05-28) 29 May 1979 (1979-05-29) |
| Indonesia | 9–0 | Japan |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
Istora Senayan,Indonesia |
Though probably not anticipated at the time, this was the final Thomas Cup appearance of the great Indonesian doubles team ofTjun Tjun andJohan Wahjudi, Tjun Tjun being unbeaten in three campaigns which included an appearance in singles. His equally illustrious contemporary,Christian Hadinata, would play in three more series (through1986) and lose only one match in his Thomas Cup career. Hartono would play in one more series (1981-1982), the first in which Indonesia's great rivalChina would finally compete. As for Svend Pri, this was his final Thomas Cup tie and the only one in which he failed to win at least one match.
v Denmark1 June 1979 (1979-06-01) 2 June 1979 (1979-06-02) |
| Indonesia | 9–0 | Denmark |
|---|---|---|
| Report | ||
Istora Senayan,Indonesia |
| 1979 Thomas Cup winner |
|---|
 Indonesia Seventh title |
