Thomas Cup

Thomas Cup

The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation, the sport's global governing body. The championships have been conducted every two years since the 1982 tournament, amended from being conducted every three years since the 1st tournament held in 1948â€"1949.
The final phase of the tournament involves twelve teams competing at venues within a host nation and is played concurrently with the final phase of the world women's team championships, the Uber Cup. Since 1984 the two competitions have been held jointly at the various stages of play.
Of the twenty-seven Thomas Cup tournaments held since 1948â€"1949, only three nations have won the title. Indonesia is the most successful team, having won the tournament thirteen times. The current cup holder, China, which didn't begin to compete until the 1982 series, follows Indonesia with nine titles, while Malaysia has won five titles. Thomas Cup and, to a lesser extent, Uber Cup are possibly the world's "biggest" and most prestigious regularly held badminton events in terms of player and fan interest. For many they trump major tournaments for individual competitors such as the venerable All-England Championships, the BWF World Championships, and even the badminton competitions at the Olympic Games.
The final phase of the most recent edition of Thomas Cup in 2012 was contested in Wuhan, China and was won by China.
The Thomas Cup competition was the idea of Sir George Alan Thomas, a highly successful English badminton player of the early 1900s, who was inspired by tennis's Davis Cup, and football's World Cup 1st held in 1930. His idea was well received at the general meeting of the International Badminton Federation (now Badminton World Federation) in 1939.
In the same year, Sir George presented the Thomas Cup, officially known as The International Badminton Championship Challenge Cup, produced by Atkin Bros of London at a cost of US$40,000. The Cup stands 28 inches high and 16 inches across at its widest, and consists of three parts: a plinth, a bowl, and a lid with player figure.
The 1st tournament was originally planned for 1941â€"1942, but was delayed when World War II exploded across the continents. Sir George's dream was finally realized in 1948â€"1949 when ten national teams participated in the 1st Thomas Cup competition. Three qualifying zones were established: Pan America, Europe, and the Pacific; though Malaya (now Malaysia) was the only Pacific zone participant. In a format that would last until 1984, all ties (matches between nations) would consist of nine individual matches; the victorious nation needing to win at least five of these contests. The top two singles players for each side faced both of the top two players for the opposite side, accounting for four matches. A 5th singles match took place between the 3rd ranked singles players for each team. Finally, two doubles pairings for each side played both of the doubles pairings for the opposite side, accounting for four more matches. Each tie was normally contested over two days, four matches on the 1st day and five on the next.The United States and Denmark won their respective zone qualifications and thus joined Malaya for the inter-zone ties.
The inter-zone ties were held in the United Kingdom. As the tournament used a knockout system, rather than a round-robin system, one country, Denmark, was given a bye in the 1st round. Malaya defeated the USA 6â€"3 in a highly competitive match played in Glasgow, Scotland (curiously, none of the players on either side had previously seen any of the players on the other side play). Of note, this tie marked the 1st of only three ever matches between the USA's Dave Freeman and Malaya's Wong Peng Soon the two greatest singles players of the early post-war period. In the final round held in Preston, England, Malaya beat Denmark 8â€"1 and became the 1st nation to win a Thomas Cup.
During the next several Thomas Cup competitions the number of participating nations grew and a 4th qualifying zone was added. The former Pacific zone was converted into Asian and Australasian zones for the 1954â€"1955 tournament. Beginning with the 2nd tournament in 1951â€"1952, zone winners contested to determine a challenger for the reigning champion nation. Until 1964 the Cup-holding nation always hosted these inter-zone ties but was exempt from them, and from the earlier intra-zone matches, needing only to defend its title, at home, in a single, conclusive challenge round tie.
With veterans such as Wong Peng Soon. Ooi Teik Hock, and Ong Poh Lim leading the way Malaya comfortably retained the Cup in Singapore against the USA in 1952 and Denmark (8â€"1) in 1955. Malaya's reign, however, was ended in 1958 (3 matches to 6) by upstart Indonesia led by Ferry Sonneville and Tan Joe Hok. Indonesia successfully defended its title in 1961 against a young team from Thailand which had surprised Denmark in the inter-zone final.
Amid some complaints of home court advantage, a rules change effective in 1964 prevented the reigning champion nation from defending the Cup at home twice in succession. The challenge round played in Tokyo, Japan that year was nonetheless controversial because the Danish challengers were barracked and severely harassed during play by young Indonesian fans. A narrow 5â€"4 Indonesian victory was upheld by the IBF (BWF) over Danish protest. When the challenge round returned to Jakarta in 1967 a resurgent Malaysia led Indonesia 4â€"3 (despite the spectacular debut of Indonesia's young Rudy Hartono) when crowd interference during the eighth match prompted tournament referee Herbert Scheele to halt play. When Indonesia rejected an IBF (BWF) decision to resume the contest in New Zealand, Malaysia was awarded the outstanding matches (6â€"3) and with them the Thomas Cup.
After 1967 the IBF further reduced the advantages accorded to the defending champion by eliminating the old challenge round system. Instead, the Cup defender would receive a bye only to an inter-zone semifinal berth and then have to earn its way into the decisive final match. This change, however, proved to be little obstacle for a rampant Indonesia. With a cadre of talented players including Hartono and doubles wizards such as Tjun Tjun and Christian Hadinata, Indonesia dominated Thomas Cup competition throughout the seventies. Its successful effort to regain the cup in 1969â€"1970 was a struggle, but in the competitions ending in 1973, 1976, and 1979 Indonesia swept its ties by winning a remarkable 51 of 54 individual matches.
In 1982, however, China burst onto the scene as a new member of the IBF. Having long before developed players as good as, or better than, any in the world (especially in singles), China defeated Indonesia in a classic 5â€"4 final in London. Thus began an era continuing to the present which has seen either China or Indonesia capture or retain the Cup. The pattern has been broken only once, by Malaysia in 1992.
In the early 1980s the IBF revamped the formats of both Thomas Cup and the women's world team championship, the Uber Cup. Starting in 1984 they were held concurrently, every two years not three, with equivalent phases of the two competitions held at the same venues and times. Ties at all stages of the Thomas Cup were trimmed from nine matches to five, played in one day not two. Lineups continued to consist of three singles players and two doubles teams, but each now played a single match against the opposing team's counterpart.
The old knockout zone qualification system in which each tie was played at a separate venue and time was eliminated. Instead, common qualifying venues brought many teams together to contend in group round-robin ties followed by playoffs between group leaders. As few as one or as many as three teams from a given venue (depending on the previously assessed strength of its field) would qualify for the final phase of the competition which until 2004 was limited to eight teams. The number of qualifying venues prior to 2004 varied between two and four and their sites basically reflected the long existent loci of badminton strength in the Far East and (to a lesser extent) in Europe (see chart below).
The European qualifying venue usually hosted the greatest number of teams and to streamline play and create more competitive ties, a two tiered system was eventually instituted there. Weaker badminton nations played-off in groups for the right to contest with the stronger national teams. To have an easier road to the inter-zone competition, strong Asian teams sometimes competed outside of their "natural" qualification venue. Rising power South Korea, for example, won qualifications held in North America in 1986 and in 1988.
From 1984 through 2002 the final phase of Thomas Cup competition brought eight competing teams together. These included the defending champion nation and the host nation exempt from earlier qualification ties. The format of this final phase largely mirrored that of the qualifying venues. The eight teams were divided into pools or groups of four. Round-robin play within each group determined 1st and 2nd place group finishers who then advanced to the semifinals. Each semifinal tie pitted the top finisher in one group against the 2nd place finisher in the other, with the winners proceeding to the championship match. A playoff for 3rd place between losing semifinalists was instituted in 1984 but was dropped in 1990.
In 2004 The BWF increased the number of Thomas Cup qualifying venues to five, one for each of five regional confederations that it had established. It also increased the number of teams qualifying for the final phase of competition to twelve. While all confederations were guaranteed to send at least one qualifier to the final phase, strong regions such as Asia might send several (see chart above). At the finals the twelve qualifying teams were divided into four groups of three teams with round-robin play within each group. Round-robin winners were then placed in separate quarter-final berths of a knockout (single elimination) tournament to await opponents determined by matches between the 2nd place finisher of one group and the 3rd place finisher of another. The draw was played out and the winner of this tournament within a tournament became the Thomas Cup champion.
Only three nations, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China have ever held the Thomas Cup. Curiously each of them won the 1st Thomas Cup competition that it entered: Malaya, the initial contest in 1949; Indonesia, the 1958 contest against Malaya; and China, the 1982 contest over Indonesia.
Indonesia leads in total titles with thirteen. It won four consecutive titles from 1970 through 1979 and five consecutive titles from 1994 through 2002. Indonesia's ten-year reign as champions was ended by the resurgence of China in 2004 when the Chinese won the title in Jakarta. Indonesia has played in the decisive final tie on eighteen occasions. Since the Thomas Cup format was overhauled in 1984, it has failed to place among the top four teams only once, in 2012.
China has captured the Cup on nine occasions including the last five in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012. Since 1982 when it 1st entered the competition China has won the most titles and has always placed among the top four teams.
Malaysia has won five times, the last being in 1992. It has played in the final tie on thirteen occasions. Since the format change in 1984 it has reached the "final four" ten of fifteen times.
Despite its small population, Denmark has traditionally been Europe's strongest power in men's badminton and the strongest badminton nation not to have captured the Thomas Cup. The only European nation to have played in the final tie, it has finished 2nd eight times spanning from the 1st competition in 1949 to the 2006 tournament. The USA, a power in the early days of international badminton, finished 2nd to Malaya in 1952 but thereafter steadily fell behind the leading badminton nations. Thailand, with a king who promoted the sport, produced outstanding players at the time of its run to the final in 1961, and for some years after that, but has since descended to a lower rung on the international ladder.
Among all the other contending nations, South Korea has the best record. Rising to prominence in the 1980s, and especially strong in doubles, it had reached the "final four" seven times before finishing 2nd in 2008 and 2nd again in 2012. Japan produced highly competitive teams in the late 1960s and the 1970s as its women were winning Uber Cup championships. Following a dry period of about three decades Japanese teams reached the final four in 2010 and 2012. India nearly reached the final twice in the 1950s. Despite some fine individual players it has lacked the depth, particularly in doubles, to seriously contend for the Cup. In Europe, England and Sweden have usually joined Denmark in advancing to the final phase of Thomas Cup competition since 1984. England, traditionally more successful in women's play than in men's, had its best showing in 1984 with a 3rd place finish. Sweden, whose greatest badminton success spanned from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, has yet to advance to the semifinal round of Thomas Cup's final phase.

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