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Judy Devlin Hashman, who won the all-England badminton singles championships 10 times, more than any other player, man or woman, died on Monday. She was 88.<\/p>\n
She died in cancer hospice care in Oxford, England, her son Geoff Hashman said.<\/p>\n
Before badminton established a world championship or joined the Olympics, the All England Open Badminton Championships was the sport\u2019s pinnacle. Hashman won the women\u2019s singles title in that event for the first time in 1954 at age 18. Then she added nine more, the last in 1967. <\/p>\n
Her 10 singles titles are the most for any player.<\/a> She also won seven women\u2019s doubles titles, six of them with her sister Susan Devlin, later known as Susan Peard.<\/p>\n Judy Devlin was born on Oct. 22, 1935, in Winnipeg, Canada, the daughter of J. Frank Devlin, a badminton coach who excelled at several sports, and Grace (Steed) Devlin, a scientist who was a good enough tennis player to play doubles at Wimbledon. The family moved to Maryland <\/span>when she was a child.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her 17 total titles at the all-England championships is tied for third behind Sir George Thomas and her father, who both played in the 1920s.<\/p>\n She also played field hockey, lacrosse and tennis, but made badminton her No. 1 priority. \u201cI started badminton at age 7, at my choice,\u201d she told the Badminton World Federation<\/a> in 2020. Her father had suggested tennis, but she \u201cdidn\u2019t want that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the neighbors was playing badminton in the backyard,\u201d she said. \u201cI can remember so well pointing across and saying: \u2018That\u2019s the one I want to play. The one that has the long name.\u2019 But I couldn\u2019t remember the name.\u201d<\/p>\n She recounted how her father would stand at the bottom of a hill, and \u201cI had to throw a ball into his hand without him having to move his arm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all guided by the follow-through,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s basically what gave me accuracy in badminton.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n After she married George Cecil Kenneth Hashman, an Englishman known as Dick, who worked for the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, in 1960, she began to enter tournaments under the name Judy Hashman.<\/p>\n She made every all-England final between 1954 and 1967 \u2014 except 1965, when she had given birth to Geoff, two months earlier (she still made the fourth round).<\/p>\n She is survived by her sister, Ms. Peard; two sons, Geoff and Joe, and one grandson.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite her significant sporting achievements, Mum always remained modest and shunned the limelight,\u201d Geoff Hashman said. <\/span><\/p>\n For her final all-England title in 1967<\/a>, she faced a formidable challenge from Noriko Takagi of Japan, who had defeated her earlier in the year at the Uber Cup, a team competition. In the deciding set, Hashman trailed by 5-1 but fought back to record a 12-10 victory for her 10th title.<\/p>\n Hashman also won 12 U.S. singles titles, the last one in 1967, after which she retired. \u201cI accomplished what I set out to accomplish,\u201d she told Sports Illustrated<\/a> at the time. \u201cThis game takes a lot out of you both physically and mentally. I have nothing more to gain from it. And besides, if you\u2019ve been good in a sport, you don\u2019t like to play to less than your best, and I\u2019m not willing to devote the time it would take to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her accomplishments earned her a place in the International Badminton Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n Her game was known for its simplicity. \u201cDaddy always thought the simplest shot for anything was the least tiring,\u201d she told Sports Illustrated, \u201cand that there was no point in a fancy windup.\u201d<\/p>\n Because badminton was an amateur sport, there was no way to make a living from it, and she taught English and geography<\/a> at Josca\u2019s Preparatory School (now Abingdon Prep) in Abingdon, England.<\/p>\n \u201cYou didn\u2019t play in it for the money,\u201d she said of the all-England championships in a video interview posted online<\/a>. \u201cIf you played badminton, that was the one thing you wanted to do more than anything else. That was sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n With expenses, the sport was a net negative financially. \u201cIt was a hobby,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd you spend money on your hobbies \u2014 everyone does.\u201d<\/p>\n