The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport's global governing body. The championships have been conducted every two years since the 1982, amended from being conducted every three years since the first tournament held in 1948–1949.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member nations. In 1981 the IBF merged with the World Badminton Federation, and on 24 September 2006, at the Extraordinary General Meeting in Madrid, the name of the organization was changed to Badminton World Federation (BWF).
Saina Nehwal is an Indian professional badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 that she was able to attain the world no. 1 ranking, thereby becoming the only female player from India and overall the second Indian player – after Prakash Padukone – to achieve this feat. She has represented India three times in the Olympics, winning a bronze medal in her second appearance at the London 2012.
Liliyana Natsir is an Indonesian former badminton player who specialized in doubles. With one gold and silver from the Olympic Games, and four gold medals at the BWF World Championships.
Hendra Setiawan is an Indonesian badminton player. He is an Olympic Games gold medalist, four time World Champion, two time Asian Games gold medalist, and two time All England champion. With these, Setiawan has collected all major individual titles in badminton. He is considered to be one of the greatest men's doubles players in badminton history.
Carsten Mogensen is a former badminton player from Denmark. He was the gold medalist at the 2015 European Games, two time European champions winning in 2012 and 2017, and the silver medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Mogensen was a former world number 1 in the BWF World ranking together with Mathias Boe.
Jan Østergaard Jørgensen is a retired badminton player from Denmark who played for SIF (Skovshoved) in the Denmark badminton league. He won the men's singles title at the 2014 European Championships, and was the bronze medalist at the 2015 World Championships. He joined the Denmark winning team at the 2016 Thomas Cup in Kunshan, China.
Pusarla Venkata Sindhu is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at the 2019 World Championships. She is the first and only Indian to become the badminton world champion and only the second individual athlete from India to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic Games. She rose to a career-high world ranking of no. 2 in April 2017.
Viktor Axelsen is a Danish badminton player. He is the 2017 World champion and the 2020 Olympic champion. He won the 2010 World Junior Championships, beating South Korea's Kang Ji-wook in the final to become the first ever European player to hold the title. Axelsen was crowned European men's singles champion in 2016 and 2018.
Ko Sung-hyun is a South Korean badminton player affiliated with Gimcheon City Hall. He is a former world number 1 both in the men's and mixed doubles. Ko is a BWF World Champion, two time Badminton Asian Champion, and Asian Games gold medalist.
Christinna Pedersen is a Danish badminton player.
Zhao Yunlei is a mixed and women's doubles badminton player from China. She graduated with a BA from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. She is the first and only badminton player to have ever won two gold medals in the same Olympic edition, winning in both the mixed and women's doubles categories in 2012. Zhao joins the ranks with nine other players with two Olympic gold medals, the highest number of gold medals won by any badminton player. Through her performance at the 2014 and 2015 BWF World Championships, she became the first player to win two consecutive gold medals in two consecutive BWF World Championships.
The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious in badminton, offering the most ranking points, together with the Summer Olympics badminton tournaments which was first introduced in 1992. The winners of this tournament are also crowned as "World Champions" of the sport, and are awarded a gold medal.
Sung Ji-hyun is a South Korean badminton player from Seoul. She is an Asian Championship gold medalist, a two-time Summer Universiade gold medalist, and a World Championship bronze medalist. She was also part of South Korean teams that won the 2010 Uber Cup, 2017 Sudirman Cup, as well the team event at the 2013 and 2015 Summer Universiade. She competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Asian Games, and at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Sung is married to compatriot men's singles player, Son Wan-ho.
Akane Yamaguchi is a Japanese badminton player who is the reigning World Champion, winning gold in the women's singles at the 2021 BWF World Championships. She was on the winning Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2012 and won various women's singles titles afterward. She then won the World Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, the Asian Junior Championships in 2014, and the Asian Championships in 2019. She helped Japan in winning by the maximum score of 3–0 at the 2017, 2018, and 2020 Asia Team Championships, and to end 37 years for Japan without a title in the Uber Cup in 2018.
Sapsiree Taerattanachai is a Thai badminton player. She claimed titles in the mixed doubles with Dechapol Puavaranukroh at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games and at the 2021 World Championships. Taerattanachai and Puavaranukroh made history as the first ever Thai pair to win the year-end Finals tournaments, the World Championships title and rank first in the world ranking.
Ayaka Takahashi is a retired Japanese badminton player who was affiliated with Unisys badminton team. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, two-time Asian Champion, two-time Asian Games silver medalist, and World Championship bronze medalist.
Srikanth Kidambi is an Indian badminton player who trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad. He was ranked as world number 1 in the BWF rankings in April 2018. Kidambi was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. and the Arjuna award in 2015. In 2021, he became the first ever Indian to reach the World Championship final in the men's singles discipline and won the silver medal.
The 2016 Thomas & Uber Cup was the 29th tournament of the Thomas Cup and 26th tournament of the Uber Cup, the premier badminton team championships for men and women respectively. It was held at the Kunshan Sports Centre in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China.
Yuta Watanabe is a Japanese badminton player. He is a member of the Nihon Unisys team, and national team A representative. He is known for his quick and explosive movements with his signature drop shot. Watanabe has collected three bronze medals at the World Junior Championships, and also four bronze at the Asian Junior Championships. Watanabe was selected to join the Japanese mixed team compete at the 2017 Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast, Australia, winning a gold medal in the qualification to Gold Coast at the 2017 Asia Mixed Team Championships in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the team finished in the semi-final round, took the bronze medal. The left-handed Watanabe has won the maiden Super 1000 tournament a total of five times, the first ever male player from Japan to win an All England Open title. First at the 2018 All England Open in the mixed doubles event partnered with Arisa Higashino, then in the 2020 All England Open in the men's doubles event with Hiroyuki Endo, and in both men's and mixed doubles in the 2021 All England Open, defending his men's doubles title with Hiroyuki Endo and winning the mixed doubles category with once again, Arisa Higashino. He won a mixed doubles bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
