Sture Johnsson (born 1945) is a retired

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player from Sweden who won numerous Swedish national and international men's singles titles. His game was characterized by impressive stamina and mobility, and a powerful overhead smash.

Career

Johnsson won men's singles at the first

European Badminton Championships The European Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Europe (BE). The first of these competitions was held in 1968. The competition was held once every two years to determine the best badminton players in Europe. Europ ...

in 1968. He eventually won three singles titles at this biennial event (

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and 1 ...

and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

), a total bested only by

Peter Gade } Peter Høeg Gade (born 14 December 1976 in Aalborg, Denmark)BWF World Ranking
Bwfbadmint ...

in the early 2000s. He won the World Invitational Championships in 1971 held in Glasgow and reached the semifinals of men's singles at the

All-England Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is play ...

on four occasions and was one of only a very few players to beat

Rudy Hartono Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (born Nio Hap Liang (); 18 August 1949) is an Indonesian former badminton player holding the record of winning the men's singles title at the All-England Championship eight times, seven times consecutively from 1968 to 1974 ...

in tournament play during Hartono's prime (semifinals of 1973 German Open). Johnsson was a member of six consecutive Swedish Thomas Cup teams between

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

and

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. He also competed at the first ever

IBF World Championships The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious ...

in Malmö, in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrati ...

, and was defeated in quarterfinals by the eventual champion

Flemming Delfs Flemming Delfs (born September 7, 1951) is a former Danish badminton player who was world no. 1 in 1977. He won the All England Championship, the European and the World Championship in the 1970s. Career Delfs is especially noteworthy for winn ...

."Badminton's first world championships", ''World Badminton'', July–August 1977, 3.

1972 Summer Olympics

Johnsson competed in

badminton at the 1972 Summer Olympics Badminton was one of two demonstration sports at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. It was the first time that the sport was part of the Olympic program, and it would become an official Olympic sport 20 years later at the 1992 Summer Olympics. ...

, as a

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...

competition. In men's singles, he lost in semifinals against

, 15-2, 15-4. In mixed doubles he played with Eva Twedberg, and they were beaten in the first round by Roland Maywald and

Brigitte Steden Brigitte Gertrud Steden also known as Brigitte Potthoff and Brigitte Pickartz (16 March 1949 – 14 April 1999) was a badminton player from Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Euro ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Achievements

European Championships

''Men's singles''

Other achievements

References

External links

* Living people Swedish male badminton players Badminton players at the 1972 Summer Olympics 1945 births Sportspeople from Västra Götaland County People from Mölndal Municipality 20th-century Swedish people {{Sweden-badminton-bio-stub