1993
Recovering the losses from last year, and receiving a curious new debutant, we set a new record, despite the loss of Yugoslavia: 33 participants: AUS, AUT, BEL, BLR, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, HUN, IRE, IRN, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, LAT, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SWE, SWI, UKR, USA. Thus we need a preliminary round of 1 match. The first round participants from last year, USA, SWI, GER, CAN, RUS, POL, NED, PRK, UKR, ITA, JAP, AUS, SWE, AUT, KAZ and NOR, are exempt. The draw is: HUN-BEL. The match:
Hungary-Belgium 10-0
The first round proper then consists of: AUS, AUT, BLR, CAN, CHN, CZE, DEN, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, GRE, HUN, IRE, IRN, ITA, JAP, KAZ, KOR, LAT, MGL, NED, NOR, NZL, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SWE, SWI, UKR, USA. The quarter-finalists from last year, GER, ITA, NED, AUT, JAP, KAZ, RUS and USA, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. Here is the draw: DEN-MGL, AUS-ROM, IRN-PRK, NED-CZE, GRE-GER, FIN-SWE, HUN-FRA, CHN-POL, ITA-LAT, KOR-GBR, KAZ-SWI, RUS-UKR, AUT-NZL, BLR-USA, JAP-NOR, CAN-IRE. The results of the matches:
Denmark-Mongolia 0-5, lucky draw again
Australia-Romania 3-8
Iran-North Korea 0-10
Netherlands-Czechoslovakia 11-0
Greece-Germany 0-11
Finland-Sweden 2-9, again!
Hungary-France 6-4, France are really fading
China-Poland 5-6
Italy-Latvia 11-0, again!
South Korea-Britain 11-0
Kazakhstan-Switzerland 11-0
Russia-Ukraine 8-3
Austria-New Zealand 11-0
Belarus-USA 1-10
Japan-Norway 5-6, that was tight, but we escaped this time!
Canada-Ireland 11-0
Then the second round consists of: AUT, CAN, GER, HUN, ITA, KAZ, KOR, MGL, NED, NOR, POL, PRK, ROM, RUS, SWE, USA. The surviving semi-finalists from last year, USA, GER and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw: RUS-KOR, USA-KAZ, NED-HUN, SWE-POL, MGL-PRK, GER-ITA, AUT-CAN, NOR-ROM. The matches proceed as follows:
Russia-South Korea 9-2
USA-Kazakhstan 8-3
Netherlands-Hungary 11-0
Sweden-Poland 6-5
Mongolia-North Korea 1-10, lucky draw
Germany-Italy 10-1
Austria-Canada 3-8
Norway-Romania 9-2
The quarter-final consists of: CAN, GER, NED, NOR, PRK, RUS, SWE, USA. The finalists from last year, GER and NED, are seeded and cannot be drawn against each other. The draw is as follows: RUS-USA, PRK-CAN, SWE-NED, GER-NOR. Results of the matches:
Russia-USA 3-8, again!
North Korea-Canada 0-11, lucky draw
Sweden-Netherlands 0-11
Germany-Norway 6-5, that was close.....
Semi-final draw: USA-NED, CAN-GER. Matches:
USA-Netherlands 4-7
Canada-Germany 6-5, but evidently they aren’t so invincible any more
Bronze final: Netherlands-Canada
FINAL: Netherlands-Canada
40,52- 39,86 (0-1) 1.21,20- 1.21,38 (1-1) 2.06,14- 2.07,40 (2-1) 4.18,46- 4.25,49 (3-1) 7.28,87- 7.45,88 (4-1) 37,13- 37,06 (4-2) 1.13,69- 1.13,23 (4-3) 1.52,90- 1.54,92 (5-3) 4.01,89- 4.02,14 (6-3) 6.39,40- 6.53,68 (7-3) 13.46,34-14.24,38 (8-3)
Final result 8-3, and Canada’s first silver
Statistics:
NOR GOLD 46x URS GOLD 36x NED GOLD 9x FIN GOLD 4x SWE GOLD 2x GDR GOLD 2x GER GOLD 2x AUT Silver 5x JAP Silver 3x HUN Silver 2x USA Silver 2x CZE Silver 1955 CHN Silver 1965 CAN Silver 1993 LAT bronze 1940 GBR bronze 1949 PRK bronze 1963 ITA bronze 1991 SWI 4th 3x POL 4th 3x FRA 4th 2x DEN 4th 1912 BEL 4th 1946 KOR 4th 1982 EST QF 5x ROM QF 2x LIT QF 1927 AUS QF 1974 KAZ QF 1992 MGL 2R 1989 NZL 1R 8x IRE 1R 4x YUG 1R 3x POR 1R 2x GRE 1R 2x UKR 1R 2x ISV 1R 1972 ESP 1R 1989 IRN 1R 1993, no doubt happy to be ranked above Israel BLR 1R 1993 ISR PR 5x RSA PR 4x ICE PR 2x COL PR 1933 HKG PR 1986 TPE PR 1986