Erland Kops


Erland Kops 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 the boxers Ebbe and Poul Kops who both competed at the Summer Olympics. Erland Kops began to play badminton in Københavns Badminton Klub in 1948. He worked for East Asiatic Company in Thailand from 1958 to 1960.

Career

In 1958, Erland Kops brought an end to eight years of dominance of by Malayan players at the All England Badminton Championships by winning its Men's Singles event. Kops was also among the first Westerners to win major singles titles in the Far East. He combined abundant speed, power, and stamina with impressive shot-making virtuosity. Despite some disappointing results in the late rounds of Thomas Cup competition, Kops was clearly the dominant tournament men's singles player and one of the dominant men's doubles players of his era.
He is one of the most successful players ever in the All England Open Badminton Championships, with 11 titles between 1958 and 1967 - 7 of them in men's singles and 4 in men's doubles - breaking the Irish player Frank Devlin´s record of six titles.
Erland Kops also won 5 times the Danish Championships in men's singles and 4 in men's doubles. In the Nordic Championships, Erland Kops obtained the title 5 times in the men's singles category, 3 times in men's doubles and 2 more times in mixed doubles.
Kops played 44 national matches for Denmark from 1957-1972.
With no surprise, Erland Kops was among the first group of badminton players inducted into the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1997, and was the first player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Badminton Europe Confederation in 2013.
As a recognition for his sporting achievements, Erland Kops has been honoured with a Knighthood from the Danish Queen, an Honorary Membership of The Danish Sports Federation, an Honorary Membership of Badminton Denmark, the Herbert Scheele Trophy from the Badminton World Federation, and being inducted to the Hall of Fame of Danish Sport, as well as being elected the second best Sportsman in Denmark of the 20th century.

All England performance

In 1957, Erland Kops lost the final to the Malayan player Eddie B. Choong, but one year later he defeated Finn Kobberø in the final. In 1959, Tan Joe Hok - from Indonesia - won the championship, then, Erland Kops won it from 1960 to 1963. Finally, Erland Kops won it again two more times in 1965 and 1967. In men´s doubles, Erland Kops won the competition teaming up with Poul-Erik Nielsen in 1958 and together with Henning Borch from 1967 to 1969. Kops lost three finals in men's doubles - in 1961 and 1964 together with Poul-Erik Nielsen and against Jorgen Hammergaard / Finn Kobberø, and in 1965 with the Malaysian Oon Choong Jin and against Ng Boon Bee and Tan Yee Khan.

International tournaments

Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
1957All England Eddy Choong9–15, 3–15 Runner-up
1958All England Finn Kobberø15–10, 8–15, 15–8 Winner
1958Dutch Open Ferry Sonneville3–15, 8–15 Runner-up
1960All England Charoen Wattanasin15–1, 11–15, 15–6 Winner
1960Swiss Open Jimmy Lim15–5, 15–4 Winner
1961Canada Open Robert McCoig15–2, 15–12 Winner
1961All England Finn Kobberø15–10, 15–6 Winner
1961French Open Ferry Sonneville15–12, 15–10 Winner
1962Swedish Open Winner
1962All England Charoen Wattanasin15–10, 15–5 Winner
1962German Open Ferry Sonneville15–10, 14–15, 15–3 Winner
1963U.S. Open Winner
1963Canada Open Channarong Ratanaseangsuang15–12, 15–12 Winner
1963All England Channarong Ratanaseangsuang15–7, 15–7 Winner
1963German Open Henning Borch15–2, 15–3 Winner
1964Swedish Open Winner
1964German Open Knud Aage Nielsen15–7, 15–13 Winner
1965All England Tan Aik Huang15–13, 15–12 Winner
1965U.S. Open Winner
1965Mexico International Winner
1966German Open Knud Aage Nielsen Winner
1966London Championships Svend Pri0–15, 7–15 Runner-up
1966French Open Ang Tjin Siang6–15, 15–6, 7–15 Runner-up
1967All England Tan Aik Huang15–12, 15–10 Winner
1967Singapore Open Tan Aik Huang11–15, 8–15 Runner-up
1967U.S. Open Suresh Goel15–2, 15–12 Winner
1967Dutch Open Tom Bacher15–8, 15–9 Winner
1967Malaysia Open Darmadi15–10, 15–3 Winner
1967Norwegian International Winner
1967German Open Wolfgang Bochow17–14, 15–10 Winner
1967Canada Open Wayne Macdonnell15–11, 15–11 Winner
1968German Open Tan Aik Huang9–15, 18–17, 15–5 Winner
1968Denmark Open Winner
1969Dutch Open Oon Chong Hau12–15, 4–15 Runner-up
1970Denmark Open Ippei Kojima Runner-up
1971Norwegian International Svend Pri10–15, 10–15 Runner-up

Men's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
1958All England Poul-Erik Nielsen Finn Kobberø
Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen		15–7, 11–15, 15–8 Winner
1958Dutch Open Jørgen Hageman Oon Chong Jin
Arne Rasmussen		15–11, 15–4 Winner
1959Malaysia Open Eddy Choong Teh Kew San
Lim Say Hup		11–15, 9–15 Runner-up
1960Swiss Open Knud E. Jepsen Jimmy Lim
Randy Oey		15–2, 15–11 Winner
1961Canada Open Robert McCoig Finn Kobberø
Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen		8–15, 10–15 Runner-up
1961French Open Finn Kobberø Oon Chong Teik
Yeoh Kean Hua		15–6, 15–10 Winner
1962German Open Poul-Erik Nielsen Finn Kobberø
Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen		7–15, 13–15 Runner-up
1963U.S. Open Robert McCoig Winner
1963Canada Open Robert McCoig Raphi Kanchanaraphi
Channarong Ratanaseangsuang		15–13, 11–15, 15–13 Winner
1963German Open Poul-Erik Nielsen Henning Borch
Jørgen Mortensen		15–5, 15–3 Winner
1964German Open Poul-Erik Nielsen Finn Kobberø
Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen		15–3, 15–6 Winner
1964All England Poul-Erik Nielsen Finn Kobberø
Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen		6–15, 3–15 Runner-up
1965All England Oon Chong Jin Tan Yee Khan
Ng Boon Bee		7–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1965Mexico International Don Paup Winner
1966London Championships Svend Pri D.O. Fulton
Roger Mills		9–15, 15–7, 15–12 Winner
1967Swedish Open Henning Borch Per Walsøe
Svend Pri		 Runner-up
1967All England Henning Borch Per Walsøe
Svend Pri		15–8, 15–12 Winner
1967U.S. Open Joe Alston Winner
1967Dutch Open Tom Bacher Alan Parsons
William Kerr		15–4, 15–10 Winner
1967Norwegian International Elo Hansen Winner
1967German Open Per Walsøe Wolfgang Bochow
Friedhelm Wulff		15–9, 9–15, 0–15 Runner-up
1967Canada Open Rolf Paterson Colin Beacom
Roger Mills		6–15, 7–15 Runner-up
1968All England Henning Borch Tan Yee Khan
Ng Boon Bee		15–6, 15–4 Winner
1969Swedish Open Svend Pri Tony Jordan
Roger Mills		15–13, 8–15, 15–11 Winner
1969All England Henning Borch David Eddy
Roger Powell		13–15, 15–10, 15–9 Winner
1969Dutch Open Bjarne Andersen Oon Chong Hau
Ho Khim Kooi		15–12, 5–15, 15–5 Winner
1970Denmark Open Henning Borch Per Walsøe
Svend Pri		 Winner
1971Dutch Open Svend Pri Derek Talbot
Elliot Stuart		15–11, 15–5 Winner
1972Swedish Open Svend Pri Per Walsøe
Poul Petersen		15–4, 9–15, 15–12 Winner
1972Dutch Open Svend Pri Winner

Mixed doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
1957German Open Agnete Friis Eddy Choong
Barbara Carpenter		15–6, 15–10 Winner
1960Swiss Open Annette Schmidt Winner
1961French Open Hanne Jensen Bengt Nielsen
Bitten Nielsen		15–6, 15–10 Winner
1963Canada Open Claire Lovett Claude Lamere
Robert McCoig		15–7, 7–15, 9–15 Runner-up
1966French Open Lene Køppen Winner
1969U.S. Open Pernille Mølgaard Hansen Don Paup
Helen Tibbetts		15–6, 13–15, 15–7 Winner
1971Norwegian International Lene Køppen Gert Perneklo
Eva Twedberg		15–3, 5–15, 10–15 Runner-up