1990
Down to 31 this year, but the tendency is good: AUS, AUT, BEL, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, FRG, GBR, GDR, GRE, HUN, IRE, ITA, JAP, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, POR, PRK, ROM, SWE, SWI, URS, USA, YUG. Thus we need a preliminary round of 15 matches. The quarter-finalists from last year, POL, URS, CAN, NOR, AUT, JAP, GDR and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is: IRE-DEN, MGL-POR, AUS-FIN, USA-SWI, ROM-GRE, URS-BEL, ITA-KOR, PRK-NOR, GDR-NZL, CAN-YUG, FRA-GBR, CZE-JAP, POL-SWE, AUT-FRG, HUN-CHN. The matches:
Ireland-Denmark 4-1, the luck of the Irish
Mongolia-Portugal 6-2
Australia-Finland 4-7
USA-Switzerland 11-0
Romania-Greece 10-0
USSR-Belgium 11-0
Italy-South Korea 7-4
North Korea-Norway 0-11
East Germany-New Zealand 11-0
Canada-Yugoslavia 11-0
France-Britain 10-1, first time they meet
Czechoslovakia-Japan 0-11
Poland-Sweden 5-6, exciting duel
Austria-West Germany 7-4, last chance to beat Germany
Hungary-China 0-11
The first round proper then consists of: AUT, CAN, CHN, FIN, FRA, GDR, IRE, ITA, JAP, MGL, NED, NOR, ROM, SWE, URS, USA. The semi-finalists from last year, CAN, AUT, URS and GDR, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: ITA-CHN, SWE-NOR, MGL-FIN, AUT-NED, GDR-IRE, JAP-ROM, URS-USA, CAN-FRA. The matches proceed as follows:
Italy-China 7-4
Sweden-Norway 6-5, what a frequent match this is...
Mongolia-Finland 0-11
Austria-Netherlands 2-9
East Germany-Ireland 11-0
Japan-Romania 11-0
USSR-USA 9-2, meeting for the third year in a row
Canada-France 11-0
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, FIN, GDR, ITA, JAP, NED, SWE, URS. Only one finalist survives from last year, so there is no seeding. The draw is as follows: JAP-ITA, CAN-URS, SWE-GDR, FIN-NED. Results of the matches:
Japan-Italy 5-6, first semi-final since 1945!
Canada-USSR 1-10
Sweden-East Germany 3-8
Finland-Netherlands 0-11
Semi-final draw: GDR-USSR, ITA-NED. Matches:
East Germany-USSR 5-6, again, and GDR missed their last chance to a final
Italy-Netherlands 2-9
Bronze final: East Germany-Italy 9-2
FINAL: USSR-Netherlands
40,56- 40,6 (1-0) 1.21,51- 1.21,9 (2-0) 2.05,08- 2.05,98 (3-0) 4.20,23- 4.25,84 (4-0) 7.32,14- 7.31,99 (4-1) 36,66- 37,69 (5-1) 1.12,94- 1.15,85 (6-1) 1.52,29- 1.54,00 (7-1) 4.04,74- 3.58,00 (7-2) 6.51,11- 6.45,66 (7-3) 14.15,49-14.01,08 (7-4)
Final result 7-4
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 36x NED GOLD 8x FIN GOLD 4x SWE GOLD 2x GDR GOLD 2x AUT Silver 5x 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 ITA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 BEL 4th 1946 KOR 4th 1982 EST QF 5x ROM QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 MGL 2R 1989 NZL 1R 7x YUG 1R 3x POR 1R 2x IRE 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 GRE 1R 1989 ESP 1R 1989 ISR PR 5x RSA PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933 HKG PR 1986 TPE PR 1986