List of Major Tournaments in Badminton

BWF holds the 7 Major Tournaments in Badminton which will be described in this blog.

Badminton World Federation (BWF) was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation. It is the globally recognised governing body for Badminton, approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Find below a little about the 7 Major Tournaments in Badminton organised by BWF regularly and internationally. All of these competitions are categorised under Grade 1 Tournaments.

Olympic Games

Inaugurated in the 1972 Summer Olympics, Badminton was officially the part of Olympics for the first time in the Summer Olympics in 1992.
29 players are selected by BWF for singles while for doubles, 19 for this one of the major tournaments in Badminton.
Each game is a 21-points game, the best of the 3-games wins in the Olympic Badminton.

2. World Championships

The World Championships of Badminton began in 1977.
The competition became biennial, played once in every 2 years, from 1985 after the merging of IBF with BWF in 1983.
In 2006 though, the game became an annual event, but not taking place during the years of Summer Olympics.

3. World Junior Championships

The World Junior Badminton Championships is for under-19 players of Badminton around the world.
2 competitions take place under this Championship: Suhandinata Cup (Mixed Team) and Eye Level Cups (individual championships)
One of the major tournaments in Badminton, it is held annually.

4. Thomas Cup

Also known as the World Men’s Team Championship, the Thomas Cup Tournament was first held in 1948-49.
The tournament is organised every 2 years, since 1982.
Sir George Alan Thomas was the first one to suggest the idea for the Thomas Cup Competition.

5. Uber Cup

Also called World Team Championships for Women, this competition is held between the national badminton teams of women.
The first Uber Cup Tournament was organised in the year 1956. The title is named after Betty Uber, who gave the idea of it in 1950.
Since 1984, it has been taking place regularly every 2-years, along with the Thomas Cup.

6. Sudirman Cup

Sudirman Cup is named after Dick Sudirman. He was also the founder of PBSI (Badminton Association of Indonesia).
It is the team badminton competition played between the mixed teams of the world, coming from various countries.
The first Sudirman Cup was held in 1989. It soon became one of the major tournaments in Badminton.

7. BWF World Senior Championships

This is for the World’s Senior Badminton Players who are above the age of 35 (and below 75).
This tournament happens biennially, being organised by BWF in every 2-years.
The winners are adorned with medals and are given the title of “World Senior Champions”.

8. Other than these, there are two more tournaments, which are suspended: World Cup (Ended in 1997) and World Grand Prix (Paused since 2000).

9. Another Competition that qualifies under Grade 1 Tournament is Para-Badminton World Championships. A bi-annual event which was earlier used to be conducted by Para-Badminton World Federation (PBWF).