1986
Up to 29 participants, with an interesting debutant and two Asian strays: AUS, AUT, CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, HKG, HUN, ITA, JAP, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, POR, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, TPE, URS, USA, YUG. Thus we need a preliminary round of 13 matches again. The quarter-finalists from last year, NOR, SWE, FRG, URS, NED, JAP, GDR and POL, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: AUS-CZE, FIN-HUN, NZL-HKG, KOR-FRA, USA-POL, ITA-CHN, TPE-JAP, AUT-FRG, SWE-PRK, URS-ROM, NED-SWI, POR-YUG, MGL-NOR. The matches:
Australia-Czechoslovakia 5-6, Karen is coming, but not good enough yet
Finland-Hungary 11-0
New Zealand-Hong Kong 5-2, lucky draw
South Korea-France 4-7, the van Heldens did it
USA-Poland 9-2, unlucky draw, as usual
Italy-China 4-7
Taiwan-Japan 0-11
Austria-West Germany 4-7, Austrians, too, having a series of unlucky draws
Sweden-North Korea 11-0
USSR-Romania 11-0
Netherlands-Switzerland 11-0
Portugal-Yugoslavia 0-11, winning their first match
Mongolia-Norway 0-11, Mongolia is on a decline
The first round proper then consists of: CAN, CHN, CZE, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, JAP, NED, NOR, NZL, SWE, URS, USA, YUG. The semi-finalists from last year, NOR, GDR, URS and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: GDR-USA, CHN-GBR, URS-FIN, NOR-FRG, CZE-SWE, CAN-FRA, NED-YUG, JAP-NZL. The matches proceed as follows:
East Germany-USA 7.5-3.5
China-Britain 11-0
USSR-Finland 11-0
Norway-West Germany 4-7, opps...
Czechoslovakia-Sweden 0-11
Canada-France 6-5, pretty close and exciting
Netherlands-Yugoslavia 11-0, as opposed to this one
Japan-New Zealand 11-0
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, CHN, FRG, GDR, JAP, NED, SWE, URS. The finalists from last year, GDR and URS, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: GDR-NED, SWE-URS, CHN-FRG, CAN-JAP. Results of the matches:
East Germany-Netherlands 7-4
Sweden-USSR 0-11
China-West Germany 1-10
Canada-Japan 0-11
Semi-final draw: URS-GDR, FRG-JAP. Matches:
USSR-East Germany 6-5
West Germany-Japan 2-9
Bronze final: East Germany-West Germany 9-2
FINAL: USSR-Japan
40,13- 40,35 (1-0) 1.21,97- 1.21,16 (1-1) 2.05,92- 2.08,19 (2-1) 4.28,36- 4.34,80 (3-1) 7.34,57- 7.49,58 (4-1) 36,4 - 37,13 (5-1) 1.12,85- 1.14,32 (6-1) 1.53,0 - 1.57,01 (7-1) 4.03,22- 4.10,93 (8-1) 6.50,83- 7.05,89 (9-1) 14.18,07-14.55,06 (10-1)
Final result 10-1, and now this terrible Medeo epoch is finally coming towards its end
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 35x NED GOLD 7x FIN GOLD 4x SWE GOLD 2x AUT Silver 4x GDR Silver 4x JAP Silver 3x FRG Silver 2x HUN Silver 2x USA Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 CHN Silver 1965 CAN bronze 1897 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 SWI 4th 3x POL 4th 3x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 ITA 4th 1945 BEL 4th 1946 KOR 4th 1982 EST QF 5x ROM QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 MGL 1R 7x NZL 1R 5x YUG 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 ESP PR 7x ISR PR 5x RSA PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933 GRE PR 1984 HKG PR 1986 TPE PR 1986 POR PR 1986