Thomas Cup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Thomas Cup is the major men's international team competition in world badminton, also known as "The International Badminton Championship Challenge Cup". It is named after Sir George Alan Thomas, a former IBF President who donated the Cup in 1939. The first Thomas Cup competition took place at Preston, England in 1948-1949.
The Thomas Cup is a knock-out competition, the first 12 editions were played once every three years with 9 matches in a tie and played in two days. In 1984 the format changed to five matches (3 singles and 2 doubles) played in a day, united with the Uber Cup (the female tournament) playing in a same venue. From 1992 the IBF decided to change the match order (to: singles; doubles; singles; doubles; singles) due to the superiority of men singles.
From 2000 the knockout phase of the matches was terminated once the winner of the tie was decided, after the IBF received criticism about the time wasting of playing the remaining matches. However the group phase will keep the traditional progression of full five matches.
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[edit] Trophy
Manufactured in London, the trophy is silverplated, 28 inches high and 16 inches wide, handles included. The trophy is in three parts: a plinth, a bowl and a lid. On top of the lid is a figure of a player. On the back of the bowl and on the plinth the winning names are printed.
[edit] Format
Thomas Cup has two stages to be played: qualification and finals. Both are played in a venue decided by IBF.
[edit] Qualification
The qualification is the pre-tournament before the final. The format is set based on the region, qualification, and teams participating. After the tournament grew from 8 to 12 teams in the finals, Asia were awarded 4 places, 3 places for Europe and one each to Oceania, Americas and Africa. The remaining two places were given automatically to the defending champion and host country.
[edit] Final tournament
The finals of the tournament combine the format of round robin and a knockout stage. 12 teams are divided into 4 groups with 2 round robin tournament matches played for every team. The group winner goes into the quarter finals. The group runners-up and second runners-up will seal their fate in the play-offs, playing with another group runners-up teams and second runners-up teams before reaching the quarter finals. After the quarter finals follows the semi finals and final.
[edit] Past Winners
| Year | Host | Final | Third Place [1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | Score | Runner-up | Third Place | Score | Fourth Place | ||||
| 1949 details |
Preston, England | Malaya [2] | 8–1 |  Denmark |
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| 1952 details |
Singapore |  Malaya |
7–2 |  United States |
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| 1955 details |
Singapore | Malaya |
8–1 | Denmark |
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| 1958 details |
Singapore |  Indonesia |
6–3 | Malaya |
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| 1961 details |
Jakarta, Indonesia | Indonesia |
6–3 |  Thailand |
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| 1964 details |
Tokyo, Japan | Indonesia |
5–4 | Denmark |
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| 1967 | Jakarta, Indonesia |  Malaysia |
6–3 | Indonesia |
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| 1970 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Indonesia |
7–2 | Malaysia |
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| 1973 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Indonesia |
8–1 | Denmark |
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| 1976 | Bangkok, Thailand | Indonesia |
9–0 | Malaysia |
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| 1979 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Indonesia |
9–0 | Denmark |
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| 1982 | London, England |  China |
5–4 | Indonesia |
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| 1984 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Indonesia |
3–2 | China |
 England |
3–2 |  Korea |
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| 1986 | Jakarta, Indonesia | China |
3–2 | Indonesia |
Malaysia |
3–2 | Denmark |
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| 1988 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | China |
4–1 | Malaysia |
Indonesia |
5–0 | Denmark |
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| 1990 details |
Tokyo, Japan | China |
3–2 | Malaysia |
Denmark |
and | Indonesia |
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| 1992 details |
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Malaysia |
3–2 | Indonesia |
China |
and | Korea |
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| 1994 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Indonesia |
3–0 | Malaysia |
Korea |
and | China |
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| 1996 | Hong Kong | Indonesia |
5–0 | Denmark |
China |
and | Korea |
||
| 1998 | Hong Kong, China SAR | Indonesia |
3–2 | Malaysia |
Denmark |
and | China |
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| 2000 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Indonesia |
3–0 | China |
Korea |
and | Denmark |
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| 2002 details |
Guangzhou, China | Indonesia |
3–2 | Malaysia |
Denmark |
and | China |
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| 2004 details |
Jakarta, Indonesia | China |
3–1 | Denmark |
Korea |
and | Indonesia |
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| 2006 details |
Sendai and Tokyo, Japan | China |
3–0 | Denmark |
Indonesia |
and | Malaysia |
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| 2008 details |
Jakarta, Indonesia | ||||||||
[edit] Successful national teams
So far, only three countries had won the event with Indonesia is the most successful team with 13 title followed by China and Malaysia. Surprisingly, Thomas Cup was only stayed in Continental of Asia even Denmark had reached the final eight times, but unable to win it.
| Team | Champions | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
 Indonesia |
13 (1958, 1961*, 1964, 1970, 1973*, 1976, 1979*, 1984, 1994*, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002) | 4 (1967*, 1982, 1986*, 1992) |
 China |
6 (1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, 2004, 2006) | 2 (1984, 2000) |
 Malaysia (including Malaya) |
5 (1949, 1952, 1955, 1967, 1992*) | 8 (1958, 1970*, 1976, 1988*, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002) |
 Denmark |
8 (1949, 1955, 1964, 1973, 1979, 1996, 2004, 2006) | |
 Thailand |
1 (1961) | |
 United States |
1 (1952) |
* = host
[edit] Notes
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International badminton – team
|
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|---|---|
| IBF | Thomas Cup | Uber Cup | Sudirman Cup | Teams | |
| International badminton – individual | |
| Olympic | World Championships | World Junior Championships | World Cup | World Grand Prix (defunct) | |
 |
|
| Thomas Cup | |
| 1949 | 1952 | 1955 | 1958 | 1961 | 1964 | 1967 | 1970 | 1973 | 1976 | 1979 | 1982 | |
| Uber Cup | |
| 1957 | 1960 | 1963 | 1966 | 1969 | 1972 | 1975 | 1978 | 1981 | |
| Thomas & Uber Cup | |
| 1984 | 1986 | 1988 | 1990 | 1992 | 1994 | 1996 | 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | |
