Finn Kobberø

Finn Kobberø
Personal information
Country	Denmark
Born	(1936-03-13)13 March 1936
Died	21 January 2009(2009-01-21) (aged 72)
Event	Doubles, singles
Medal record Men's badminton Representing Denmark Thomas Cup 1955 Tokyo Team 1964 Tokyo Team

Finn Kobberø (13 March 1936 – 21 January 2009) was a badminton player from Denmark, who won numerous international titles in all of badminton's three events (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.

Career

He was one of the most successful players in the history of the All England Open Badminton Championships with 15 titles between 1955 and 1966, 7 in men's doubles, mainly with hard-hitting Jorgen Hammergaard Hansen, and 8 in mixed doubles. He was also a three-time singles finalist at the All-Englands despite a storied disdain for physical conditioning. A leading player on all of Denmark's Thomas Cup (men's international) teams from 1954 through 1964, he won 55 of 64 individual matches. Powerful, quick, and deceptive, he has been rated among the most talented players in the sport's history. He won 22 Danish national championships in all. He also won each of the three events at the Danish Open Championships though the tournament was not held during most of the years that he was active as a player.

Kobberø was inducted into the Badminton Hall of Fame in 1997. He later worked as a sports journalist for national television in Denmark. He died January 21, 2009.

Achievements

International tournaments (50 titles, 19 runners-up)

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1953	Denmark Open	Eddy Choong	3–15, 7–15	Runner-up
1955	Norwegian International	Leif Ekedahl	15–8, 15–6	Winner
1956	Denmark Open	Palle Granlund	15–2, 15–7	Winner
1956	All England	Eddy Choong	15–11, 3–15, 11–15	Runner-up
1956	US Open	Joe Alston	15–11, 15–8	Winner
1956	Norwegian International	Bertil Glans	5–15, 18–15, 15–11	Winner
1957	Swedish Open	Eddy Choong	15–11, 15–9	Winner
1957	US Open	Eddy Choong	15–10, 2–15, 15–4	Winner
1958	Swedish Open	Erland Kops	15–11, 15–10	Winner
1958	All England	Erland Kops	10–15, 15–8, 8–15	Runner-up
1958	US Open	Jim Poole	8–15, 15–6, 7–15	Runner-up
1960	Mexico International	Teh Kew San	7–15, 7–15	Runner-up
1960	Canada Open	Tan Joe Hok	15–10, 8–15, 13–15	Runner-up
1961	All England	Erland Kops	10–15, 6–15	Runner-up
1962	French Open	Charoen Wattanasin	4–15, 13–18	Runner-up
1962	Belgian International	Oon Chong Teik	11–15, 6–15	Runner-up

Men's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1955	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Eddy Choong David Choong	15–9, 14–17, 15–11	Winner
1955	Norwegian International	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Leif Ekedahl Berndt Dahlberg	15–11, 15–7	Winner
1955	Malaysia Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Ong Poh Lim Ooi Teik Hock	7–15, 17–18	Runner-up
1956	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	John Nygaard Poul-Erik Nielsen	18–14, 15–5	Winner
1956	Norwegian International	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Bertil Glans Ingemar Eliasson	15–10, 15–11	Winner
1956	Denmark Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	John Nygaard Poul-Erik Nielsen	7–15, 15–8, 17–14	Winner
1956	US Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Ong Poh Lim Ooi Teik Hock	15–8, 9–15, 15–7	Winner
1957	US Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Eddy Choong Bert Fergus	15–12, 15–2	Winner
1957	Swedish Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Eddy Choong Oon Chong Teik	15–5, 15–12	Winner
1958	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen	7–15, 15–11, 8–15	Runner-up
1958	Swedish Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Ole Mertz Poul-Erik Nielsen	15–12, 6–15, 13–15	Runner-up
1958	US Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Wynn Rogers Bob Williams	15–1, 15–8	Winner
1960	All England	Poul-Erik Nielsen	Lim Say Hup Teh Kew San	14–17, 15–3, 15–11	Winner
1960	Swedish Open	Poul-Erik Nielsen	Berndt Dahlberg Bertil Glans	15–4, 15–4	Winner
1960	US Open	Charoen Wattanasin	Manuel Armendariz Jim Poole	15–6, 15–6	Winner
1961	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen	15–6, 15–5	Winner
1961	French Open	Erland Kops	Oon Chong Teik Yeoh Kean Hua	15–6, 15–10	Winner
1961	Canada Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Robert McCoig	15–8, 15–10	Winner
1962	German Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen	15–7, 15–13	Winner
1962	French Open	Bengt Nielsen	Charoen Wattanasin Torkild Nielsen	18–16, 1–15, 15–4	Winner
1962	Swedish Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Henning Borch Knud Aage Nielsen	15–14, 7–15, 15–4	Winner
1962	Belgian International	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Oon Chong Teik Ole Mertz	15–9, 7–15, 6–15	Runner-up
1962	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Narong Bhornchima Raphi Kanchanaraphi	17–16, 15–3	Winner
1963	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Tan Joe Hock Ferry Sonneville	10–15, 15–4, 15–7	Winner
1964	German Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen	3–15, 6–15	Runner-up
1964	Swedish Open	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen	15–7, 17–14	Winner
1964	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen	15–6, 15–3	Winner
1966	All England	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen	Ng Boon Bee Tan Yee Khan	15–9, 9–15, 15–17	Runner-up

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1954	All England	Inge Birgit Hansen	John Best Iris Cooley	12–15, 0–15	Runner-up
1955	All England	Kirsten Thorndahl	David Choong June White	15–7, 15–13	Winner
1956	US Open	Judy Devlin	Bob Williams Ethel Marshall	15–6, 15–11	Winner
1956	Denmark Open	Inge Birgit Hansen	Jørn Skaarup Anni Hammergaard Hansen	15–9, 7–15, 7–15	Runner-up
1957	All England	Kirsten Granlund	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Anni Hammergaard Hansen	15–3, 15–6	Winner
1957	US Open	Judy Devlin	Bob Williams Ethel Marshall	15–0, 15–9	Winner
1958	All England	Aase Winther	Tony Jordan June Timperley	9–15, 15–7, 5–15	Runner-up
1958	US Open	Judy Devlin	Bob Williams Ethel Marshall	15–5, 17–14	Winner
1960	All England	Kirsten Granlund	Poul-Erik Nielsen Inge Birgit Hansen	15–7, 15–2	Winner
1960	Canada Open	Jean Miller	Tan Joe Hok Sushila Kapadia	15–7, 15–7	Winner
1960	US Open	Margaret Varner	Michael Roche Judy Devlin	15–7, 15–2	Winner
1961	All England	Kirsten Granlund	Tony Jordan June Timperley	15–12, 15–5	Winner
1961	Canada Open	Jean Miller	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Marjory Shedd	15–3, 15–10	Winner
1962	Swedish Open	Anni Hammergaard Hansen	Jesper Sandvad Aase Winther	15–6, 15–7	Winner
1962	German Open	Hanne Andersen	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Anni Hammergaard Hansen	15–4, 15–10	Winner
1962	All England	Ulla Rasmussen	Poul-Erik Nielsen Inge Birgit Hansen	15–1, 15–11	Winner
1962	Belgian International	Ulla Rasmussen	Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Karin Jørgensen	6–15, 15–10, 15–6	Winner
1962	French Open	Tan Gaik Bee	Charoen Wattanasin Veronica Brock	15–3, 15–2	Winner
1963	All England	Ulla Rasmussen	Tony Jordan June Timperley	15–8, 15–12	Winner
1964	Swedish Open	Anne Flindt	Oon Chong Teik Judy Hashman	17–14, 15–10	Winner
1964	German Open	Bente Flindt	Knud Aage Nielsen Kirsten Thorndahl	15–9, 15–10	Winner
1964	All England	Ulla Rasmussen	Tony Jordan Jenny Pritchard	10–15, 13–18	Runner-up
1964	Nordic Championships	Ulla Rasmussen	Ole Mertz Annette Rye	15–6, 15–12	Winner
1965	All England	Ulla Strand	Tony Jordan Jenny Pritchard	9–15, 15–4, 15–12	Winner
1966	Denmark Open	Ulla Strand	Per Walsøe Pernille Mølgaard Hansen	15–13, 15–3	Winner

Summary

Rank	Event	Date	Venue
1	Men's doubles	1955, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964	All England Open
	Mixed doubles	1955, 1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966
1	Men's singles	1956, 1957	U.S. Open
	Men's doubles	1956, 1957, 1958, 1960
	Mixed doubles	1956, 1957, 1958, 1960
1	Men's doubles	1961	Canada Open
	Mixed doubles	1960, 1961
1	Men's singles	1957, 1958	Swedish Open
	Men's doubles	1957, 1960, 1962, 1964
	Mixed doubles	1962, 1964
1	Men's singles	1956	Denmark Open
	Men's doubles	1956
	Mixed doubles	1966
1	Mixed doubles	1964	Nordic Championships
1	Men's doubles	1961, 1962	French Open
	Mixed doubles	1962
1	Men's doubles	1962	German Open
	Mixed doubles	1962, 1964
2	Men's singles	1956, 1958, 1961	All England Open
	Men's doubles	1958, 1966
	Mixed doubles	1954, 1958, 1964

References

• Finn Kobberø's Profile - Badminton.dk