Badminton Tournament & Championships List

Badminton Tournament & Championships

Badminton is the most popular racket game just like tennis. But Tennis is all about racket and tennis ball which is neon green in colour. While the badminton is all about racket which is pretty sleek and long along with shuttle which is often termed as the ‘cock’ by the layman. The points in badminton are counted based on the shuttle location.

Basically, the sport aims to restrict the players from the opponent team to return a serve. If the players of the opponent team succeed in returning the shuttle, no point is gained until the opponent fails to ground the shuttle. In simple words, if team A serves the shuttle and team B succeeds in returning the shuttle back to team A, none of the team scores any point.

If team B tries to return the shuttle and grounds the shuttle in its own netted area, team A gains a point and the game goes on like this. There is also foul which takes away the chance of the players. The sport can be played in singles (1 player in a team) and also in doubles (2 players in a team).

Badminton Tournament & Championships List

Badminton as a senior-level sport is involved in a number of prestigious tournaments that are world-famous and literally all the badminton lovers and aspirants wait for them. Here are the top five such most prestigious and famous badminton tournaments which you might be missing out on these years.

#1. Olympics

Olympics is the most prestigious and leading sports event of all time. People generally crave to be a participant in the Olympics and it is noted that not everyone succeeds in getting into the Olympics. Badminton is played at the Summer Olympics at a four years gap. Badminton at the International level in the Olympic was first played in the Summer Olympics of 1992 where six Olympiads were contested with 69 different nations. The Badminton sport is governed by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The current program in the Badminton of Summer Olympics in Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.

#2. All England Tournament

The All England Tournament of Badminton is an Open Badminton Championship which is held in England annually. Initially, it was just a sport played in the All England Tournament. But later in 2007, the sport was upgraded to Superseries with the inclusion of the latest grading system by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). In the year of 2011, the badminton was further upgraded to Superseries Premier. Badminton had its very first debut in the All England Tournament in the year 1898 in the English Town of Gulliford, whose success made way for the All England’s inaugural tournament in the next year, 1899 in the Horticultural Halls of London that just consisted of the doubles.

#3. BWF World Championships

The BWF World Championships is a badminton tournament which is sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and was formerly known as the IBF World Championships and World Badminton Championships. Badminton World Federation (BWF) in association with the Summer Olympics provides the most ranking points. The winners achieve gold medals and are awarded the most prestigious ‘World Champions’ title. But there is no additional prize money. The BWF World Championships was founded in the year 1977 and was organized once in every three years, which later changed to once every two years.  From the year 2006, it became an annual event facilitating more players.

#4. Thomas Cup

The Thomas Cup also termed as the World Men’s Team Championships is an International Badminton Tournament that is played among the teams that represent the member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which is the governing body of the sports globally. Thomas Cup was founded by George Alan Thomas in the year 1949. It was first played in the year 1948- 1949 and occurred every three years which was later amended to every two years since 1982.

#5. Sudirman Cup

Sudirman Cup is the mixed team badminton championship that is organized in every two years. The Sudirman Cup was founded in the year 1989 and was named after a former Indonesian Badminton player, Dick Sudirman who is also the founder of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (BAI). Initially, it was played with the IBF World Championships at the same venue. But later it was decided and split into two different tournaments by the International Badminton Federation (IBF).

The first Sudirman Cup was held from the 24^th of May, 1989 to 29^th of May, 1989. In every round of Sudirman Cup, there are five matches that include: Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles. Like BWF World Championships, Sudirman Cup is also devoid of any prize money. But the players earn BWF world ranking points along with national prestige and plays for their respective countries. The Sudirman Cup is also lavishly made of 92% gold plated solid silver (22 carats) that represents a shuttlecock. It stands 80 cm high on Java teak wood known as jati wood which is shaped octagonal. The shuttlecock is surrounded by the replica of Borobudur temple and the cup was made by Masterix Bandung Company having a price of US$15,000.

Badminton has been placed in the topmost prestigious tournaments with pride. The aspirants and the participants groom themselves with much care and perfection to gain a position in these tournaments. Though there are certain tournaments that do not provide any prize money, this fact does not affect the aspiration any which ways. There are certain other worth notable tournaments in the field of Badminton or in which badminton plays a vital part such as The Super Series Circuit, Premier Super Series Tournaments, Grand Prix Gold Tournaments, Grand Prix Tournaments, Dubai Super Series and Uber Cup. India has a special set of tournaments for the Badminton players which are as awesome as these five most famous badminton tournaments.