India's chances at the 'World Cup' of badminton - Thomas, Uber and Sudirman Cups

The first thing you would be thinking reading the title is, “Is there a badminton World Cup?”

You would have heard of the upcoming FIFA World Cup or maybe even the Hockey World Cup which precedes it. But since when did badminton start having a World Cup?

Well, not exactly a World Cup, but badminton has several tournaments where countries battle it out. Just like the Davis Cup and Fed Cup make up the inter-country competitions in tennis, badminton has three tournaments which feature nations facing off against each other. These are the Thomas Cup, Uber Cup and the Sudirman Cup.

The Thomas Cup is a men’s tournament with 5 rubbers – 3 men’s singles and 2 men’s doubles. The Uber Cup is the corresponding women’s tournament with the same format. Both events used to take place every three years, separately, up to 1984, but were merged and are now held together every two years.

The third event is the Sudirman Cup, which consists of all the five different medal categories at the Olympics – men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles. It is held every alternate year when the Thomas and Uber Cups are not held.

So when and where are these tournaments going to be held?

The Thomas and Uber Cups are going to be held at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi from 18th to 25th May 2014.

The two prestigious world team competitions in badminton

What has been India’s best performance at these tournaments?

As has been the case with most international tournaments, the Chinese have dominated, and won the most number of titles. India on the other hand has started to produce performances of some substance only in the past 10 years.

India first participated in the Thomas Cup in the year 1952. From 1952 to 1979, they could only get past the first round on three occasion – in 1952, 1955 and 1979. From then till the beginning of the 21st century, India failed to make the cut for the tournament.

Even in the year 2000, India failed to cross the group stage, losing in all the round-robin matches. However, it was the tournament in 2006 that helped them achieve a significant performance. After a loss to China and a close 3-2 win against Germany, India managed to beat New Zealand by a 3-0 margin for the quarterfinal. However, the Indians were humbled in the last eight match against the Danes, losing out 3-0.

India failed to qualify for the 2008 tournament, but replicated their 2006 performance in 2010 in Kuala Lumpur. They defeated Australia, but failed to get past Indonesia at the quarterfinal stage. After the quarterfinal showing in 2010, they again failed to qualify in 2012.

The Indian team would be making a comeback to the tournament at home this year.

As compared to the men, the women have qualified for only three Uber Cups. Having played in the initial tournaments in 1957 and 1960, India qualified for the tournament on the basis of a strong showing from Saina Nehwal in 2010.

Having frequently failed to cross the first round in the past, India’s performance in 2010 was noteworthy. The Indian team defeated South Africa in the group stages by a 5-0 margin, but lost to the Koreans (eventual winners). A second place finish in the group resulted in a tough quarterfinal clash against the Chinese. They could not match up to the level of the Chinese and were beaten fair and square by a 3-0 margin.

What are India’s chances this year?

Saina Nehwal and P.V.Sindhu will be crucial to India’s chances

For the 2014 Thomas Cup, India are drawn in a group along side Malaysia, Korea and Germany. Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram will have their tasks cut out when they face the likes of world number 1 Lee Chong Wei in the group stages.

Meanwhile, the women are grouped with Hong Kong, Thailand and Canada. India’s challenge would be spearheaded by Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu. With one top 10 and one top 20 player in the ranks, the women would be confident of progressing to the business end of the tournament.

Just like any other sport, home advantage is going to be a major factor and with Sindhu and Srikanth making gigantic strides in recent years, India has a great chance to go deep in these tournaments.

The last few years have seen the sprouting of immense talent in the Indian badminton circuit. This can be attributed to the Indian Badminton League as well as Saina Nehwal’s historic bronze at the London Olympics, as well as P.V Sindhu’s bronze at the world championships.

Whatever be the case, Indian badminton has jumped ahead by leaps and bounds in the past 5 years and has a great chance to produce its best performance at the World Cup of badminton.