One of the All England’s greatest-ever champions, Judy Hashman, has passed away at the age of 88.
Hashman (née Devlin) appeared in all but one of the All England women’s singles finals between 1954 and 1967, winning 10 of them.
She won 17 All England titles overall, with seven coming in women’s doubles, to sit joint-third on the all-time list, behind only George Alan Thomas and her father Frank Devlin.
Hashman was born in Winnipeg, Canada with her father hailing from Dublin in Ireland and debuted at the All England Open aged just 18.
She triumphed to become the youngest All England champion in history, also partnering her sister Susan to the women’s doubles titles, the first of six titles together.
Despite being born in Canada, Hashman represented the USA internationally for most of her career, later representing England.
Her All England debut was a sure sign of things to come and in the space of just three weeks she also won two US Open titles and became the US Junior champion in three disciplines.
A keen sportswoman, she also represented the US in lacrosse, tennis and squash but badminton was where she really shone.
After back-to-back All England finals defeats to compatriot Margaret Varner, Hashman reclaimed her crown as she beat Varner in both the 1957 and 1958 women’s singles finals.
Between 1960 and 1964, Hashman won five consecutive women’s singles titles, also winning the women’s doubles in the first four of those years.
The only time she did not make the All England final was in 1965 when she returned to the oldest badminton tournament in the world just two months after giving birth and still made the fourth round.
Her final All England win in 1967 is one of the most special as she played young Japanese talent Noriko Takagi and came back from 5-1 down in the third game to take the victory.
Away from the All England Open, Hashman helped the USA win the Uber Cup on three occasions.
She was inducted into the International Badminton Federation Hall of Fame alongside her father Frank in 1997, having become the first woman to be awarded the International Badminton Federation Distinguished Service Award in 1985.
Photo from K Hall.
