Top 10 Badminton Tournaments
Badminton is a competitive doubles or singles sport in which players attempt to score by swatting the shuttlecock onto their opponent’s side of the court. Most of the best badminton players hail from the continent of Asia, but the sport is popular in Europe and South America, too. There are many highly competitive badminton tournaments hosted around the world. Keep reading to learn more about the top 10 badminton tournaments played today.
What Are the Biggest Badminton Tournaments in the World?
- Summer Olympic Games
- BWF World Championship
- Thomas Cup
- Uber Cup
- Sudirman Cup
- Yonex All England Open
- HSBC BWF World Tour Tournament
- BWF Para-Badminton World Championships
- BWF World Junior Championships
- BWF World Senior Championships
1. Summer Olympic Games
The Olympics are, by far, the most well-known and prestigious athletic event the world of sports has to offer. In the Summer Olympic Games, countries from five continents gather to compete in 32 different sports. Badminton was demonstrated to the International Olympic Committee in Munich in 1972. The sport was not introduced as a medal event for another 20 years, though, at the Summer Olympics hosted in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992.
2. BWF World Championship
The BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Championship is the most competitive and respected tournament in which athletes are solely competing in badminton. Created in 1977, this tournament was hosted every other year until 2002. Starting in 2002, BWF began holding their World Championship every single year, excluding years when the Summer Olympics were being played. Similar to the Summer Olympics, the BMF World Championship is an international event that is hosted in a new city and country for each edition. This tournament is also hosted during the summer, and the 2023 World Championship is set to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark.
3. Thomas Cup
After its beginnings in 1949 in England as a triannual tournament, the Thomas Cup has been hosted every two years since 1982. This tournament is also hosted by the BWF and allows 16 different teams to compete. Since the tournament's birth in 1949, only five countries have won the Thomas Cup. Indonesia has won the most times, bringing the cup home on 13 occasions. The Thomas Cup is a men’s only tournament; however the Uber Cup Tournament is offered by BWF as the women’s equivalent.
4. Uber Cup
The Uber Cup, just like the Thomas Cup, hosts 16 international badminton teams who play three singles and two doubles events throughout the tournament. The Uber Cup is for women’s badminton players only. Keeping with the overall congruency between these two tournaments, the Uber Cup, just like the Thomas Cup, has only been claimed by five different countries. The Uber Cup has mostly been won by China, rather than the Thomas Cup’s most frequent victor Indonesia.
5. Sudirman Cup
The Sudirman Cup is another international tournament hosted by BWF and has been played every two years since 1989. This tournament is also referred to as the World Mixed Teams Championship, meaning that both male and female badminton players compete in this tournament. The first Sudirman Cup took place in Indonesia, which is fitting, as the cup is named after Indonesian Badminton player Dick Sudirman. Sudirman also founded the Badminton Association of Indonesia. China, South Korea, and Indonesia are the only countries to have claimed a Sudirman.
6. Yonex All England Open
The All England Open is not only the oldest badminton tournament, established in 1899, but it is also the longest, as it is still hosted annually today. Despite always being held in Birmingham, England, the teams competing in this tournament come from all over the world, too. Until BWF began the World Championship officially, the All England Open was widely considered the most competitive tournament in the sport of badminton.
7. HSBC BWF World Tour Tournament
The World Tour is a mega-tournament comprising 27 smaller tournaments around the globe. This tournament has maybe the most interesting, complicated, and rigorous schedule, as tournaments are collected and placed into tiers ranging from Super 300 to Super 1000 until teams reach the World Finals. A monetary prize is doled out at multiple levels in this tournament, the prize begins at $1.5 million, and teams collect certain percentages of the prize money for winning games.
8. BWF Para-Badminton World Championships
The BWF Para-Badminton World Championship is the crowning tournament for the badminton subset of Parasports. BWF is passionate about making the sport accessible for anyone who wants to play and thus has played an important role in developing and regulating para-badminton tournament play. In the 2020 Tokyo Games, para-badminton officially became a Paralympic sport. The BWF championships were first held in the Netherlands in 1998.
9. BWF World Junior Championships
The BWF World Junior Championships is designed to honor the best global badminton players under the age of 19. The annual tournament began, in a previous form, as the Bimantara World Junior Invitational in 1987. In 1992, the tournament changed into its current BWF form. The tournament holds five individual cups to pass out, called Eye Level Cups, and participants can also play for mixed team awards throughout the tournament. This tournament has proved an excellent way to identify and recognize young badminton talent.
10. BWF World Senior Championships
The BWF World Senior Championship began in 2003 as a way to allow aging athletes to continue to compete in badminton in a top-level event. This tournament is for men and women ages 35 to 75+. Ages are grouped and placed together in five-year intervals. Participants in this tournament play in each of the five categories of badminton. Since 2003, England has already collected 228 Senior Championship medals.
Honorable Mentions
- BWF World Tour Super 1000
- BWF World Tour Super 750
- BWF World Tour Super Super 500
- BWF World Tour Super 300
- BWF World Tour Super 100
- Future Series
- International Challenge
- International Series
- Indonesia Open
- Chinese National Badminton Championship
FAQ
What is the biggest badminton tournament in the world?
The biggest badminton tournament in the world is the Summer Olympics. Badminton joined the Summer Olympics fairly recently, in 1992. Olympic medals are the highest honor athletes in most sports can receive, making this tournament particularly competitive and well-followed. China has collected 41 Olympic medals in badminton, making them the best-performing country by far, with Indonesia placing as runner-up with only 19 medals.