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
Chen Changjie (badminton) against Denmark and Indonesia. In 1983 Changjie won the Asian Championships in a grueling duel with Indonesia's Eddy Kurniawan The following year Changjie married Zhang Ailing, a brilliant player on the Chinese women's team, and neither appeared in international competition after 1984. Chen Changjie (badminton) Chen Changjie is a former badminton player from China who rated among the world's leading singles players for a short period of time after China joined the International Badminton Federation (now Badminton World Federation) in 1981. The powerful Changjie won the first major IBF sanctioned event in which China participated, the 1981 World Games in