1949 Thomas Cup 1949 Thomas Cup The 1949 Thomas Cup was the inaugural tournament of Thomas Cup, the most important men's badminton team competition in the world. The tournament was originally planned for 1941-1942 (badminton seasons in the northern hemisphere traditionally ran from the autumn of one calendar year to the spring of the next), but was delayed when World War II exploded across the continents. Sir George's dream was finally realized in 1948-1949 when ten national teams participated in the first Thomas Cup competition. Three qualifying zones were established: Pan America, Europe, and the Pacific; though Malaya (now Malaysia) was the only
Badminton World Federation under 19 years old. The BWF regularly organises seven major international badminton events and one event for para-badminton: Two events are no longer held regularly: Grade 2 tournaments, known as BWF World Tour was sanctioned into six levels with different world ranking points awarded, as order they are: The events that were formerly held from 2007 to 2017 are: Grade 3 tournaments, known as Continental Circuit was sanctioned into three levels with different world ranking points awarded, as order they are: The BWF bestows special honours onto players, umpires, sponsors and other individuals for their achievement in badminton or for