Erland Kops

Erland Kops (14 January 1937 – 18 February 2017)[1] was a badminton player from Denmark who won numerous major international singles and doubles titles from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. 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.[2] He combined abundant speed, power, and stamina with impressive shot-making virtuosity. Despite some disappointing results in the late rounds of Thomas Cup (men's international team) competition, Kops was clearly the dominant tournament men's singles player and one of the dominant men's doubles players of his era.[3]

Erland Kops
Erland Kops in 1968
Personal information
Country Denmark
Born(1937-01-14)14 January 1937
Died18 February 2017(2017-02-18) (aged 80)
EventMen's singles & Men's doubles

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.[4][5]

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.[5]

Kops played 44 national matches for Denmark from 1957-1972.[5]

With no surprise, Erland Kops was among the first group of badminton players inducted into the World Badminton Hall of Fame in 1997,[6] and was the first player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Badminton Europe Confederation (BEC) in 2013.[7][8]

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.[7]

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.[9]

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.

Major achievements
Rank Event Date Venue
Danish National Championships
1 Singles 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967 Copenhagen
Men's doubles 1961, 1965, 1968, 1969
Nordic Championships
1 Singles 1964, 1965, 1966, 1966, 1967 Various locations
Men's doubles 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971
Mixed doubles 1965, 1967
European Championships
2 Men's doubles 1970 Port Talbot, WAL
3 Men's doubles 1972 Karlskrona, SWE
Open Championships
1 Singles 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967 All England Open
Men's doubles 1958, 1967, 1968, 1969
2 Singles 1957 All England Open
Men's doubles 1961, 1964, 1965
1 Singles 1961 French Open
Men's doubles 1961
Mixed doubles 1966
1 Singles 1961, 1963, 1967 Canadian Open
Men's doubles 1963
Mixed doubles 1963
1 Singles 1968 Denmark Open
Men's doubles 1970
1 Singles 1967, 1968 Dutch Open
Men's doubles 1958, 1967
1 Singles 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968 German Open
Men's doubles 1963, 1964
1 Singles 1967 Malaysia Open
1 Singles 1965 Mexican Open
Men's doubles 1965
1 Singles 1962 Mexico City International
Men's doubles 1962
1 Singles 1968 Norwegian International
Men's doubles 1968
1 Singles 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 Swedish Open
Men's doubles 1965, 1968, 1969
1 Singles 1960 Swiss Open
Men's doubles 1960
Mixed doubles 1960
1 Singles 1963, 1965, 1967 U.S. Open
Men's doubles 1963, 1967
Mixed doubles 1969
Other National Championships
1 Singles 1960 All-India Championships
Men's doubles 1960
1 Singles 1959 Thailand National Championships

References
  1. "Danish badminton great Erland Kops dies at age 80". ESPN (via Associated Press). 18 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  2. Herbert Scheele ed., The International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1971 (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd. 1971) 200, 303.
  3. Pat Davis, The Guinness Book of Badminton (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 123, 155,156.
  4. Herbert Scheele ed., The International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1971 (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd. 1971) 163-165.
  5. "Badminton Denmark". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  6. "bwfbadminton.org". bwfbadminton. Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  7. "Hall of Fame of the Badminton Europe Confederation". Badminton Europe Confederation. Badminton Europe Confederation. 2013. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  8. Sukumar, Dev (21 April 2013). "Sportkeeda Badminton". Sportkeeda. Sportkeeda. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  9. "Stjernerne fra i går: Erland Kops". badminton.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 17 January 2017.
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