1958 Thomas Cup
The 1958 Thomas Cup competition is an international team tournament for supremacy in men's badminton (its female counterpart is the Uber Cup). Beginning in 1948–49 it was held every three years until 1982 and has been held every two years thereafter. Nineteen teams contested for the Thomas Cup during the 1957-1958 season. As defending champion Malaya (now Malaysia) was exempt until the conclusive tie (team match) called the challenge round. The other eighteen teams were divided into four qualifying zones; Asia, Australasia, Europe, and Pan America; with the winners of each intra-zone competition advancing to inter-zone competition in Singapore to determine a challenger to Malaya. For a more detailed description of the Thomas Cup format see Wikipedia's general article on the Thomas Cup. Winner of the previous two Asian zone competitions, India was decisively beaten 8–1 in the first round by a fast improving Thailand. Thailand went on to win the zone by shutting out Pakistan (9–0). In the Australasian zone, first time participant Indonesia served notice of international badminton's future by shutting out both New Zealand and Australia to advance to inter-zone play. Denmark again advanced easily through the European zone. The Danes now boasted newly crowned All-England singles champion Erland Kops along with Finn Kobbero, two exceptionally talented players, both in their early twenties. For the third straight time only United States and Canada contested in the Pan America zone. The all-Californian U.S. squad shut out a Canadian team whose best players in past meetings between the two were now either long in years or losing interest. The following teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1958 Thomas Cup. Defending champion and host Malaya automatically qualified to defend the title it had won three years previously. = = = = tangkis.tripod.com Mike's Badminton Populorum Archived 2016-03-30 at the Wayback Machine Our Badminton Greats Herbert Scheele ed., The International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1967 (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1967) 74–78. Pat Davis, The Guinness Book of Badminton (Enfield, Middlesex, England: 1983) 121, 122.