1979 Thomas Cup
The 1979 Thomas Cup was the 11th edition of the Thomas Cup competition, the world championship of men's international team badminton. The final rounds contested by qualifying zone winners and defending champions Indonesia national [badminton team|Indonesia] were held at the Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Indonesia in late May and early June. First played in 1948–49, the Thomas Cup competition was held every three years until 1982, and since then has been held every two years.
Indonesia won its seventh title after beating Denmark in the final round.
Qualification
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 of the Inter-Zone Ties.Political disputes played a significant role in the 1978–1979 Thomas Cup series. Though the People's Republic of China had been producing players of astonishing ability since the mid-1960s, its entry into the International Badminton Federation had been delayed for years over the Taiwan issue. In 1978 the PRC took the step of fostering a rival international badminton organization and running its own version of a world championship in 1979.
The Asian zone all but disappeared in the political upheaval, as four national teams, including traditionally strong Thailand, either withdrew or were scratched from the competition. This left only India to visit Malaysia in a replay of their 1976 tie, 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 by Prakash Padukone, was able to avenge its 1976 loss in another extremely close contest and win the Asian zone for the first time since 1955.
Competing in the Australasian zone for the first time since the 1966-1967 series, Japan encountered strong opposition from host New Zealand but survived 5-4. It was Richard Purser's sixth Thomas Cup campaign for the Kiwis. The Japanese then went on to shut out Australia in the zone final, despite some close matches.
In the European Zone, England could not take advantage of a fine performance by Ray Stevens, and went down to Sweden 3-6. The Swedes, however, were beaten in the final for the fourth consecutive time by Denmark 2-7. It was the last of five occasions in which Denmark's Svend Pri and Sweden's Sture Johnsson played on opposite sides of a Thomas Cup tie, though they did not play directly against each other this time. Young Morten Frost for Denmark and Thomas Kihlstrom for Sweden were the leading performers in the contest.
The fallout over these developments reached into the Pan American zone of Thomas Cup which Taiwan had entered. Drawing Mexico, Taiwan agreed to drop out of the competition when the Mexican Association protested against its entry. Mexico then defaulted the zone final to Canada which, effectively, won the zone by squeezing past the USA 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.