Below is listed the Badminton World Federation's World Championships medalists in the men's and women's singles, also in the men's, women's and mixed doubles events. The champion(s) of the tournament win a gold medal, the runners-up take the silver medal, and both losing semifinalists are awarded bronze medals.
Since its inaugural edition in 1977, only 21 countries have achieved at least a bronze medal in the tournament: eleven in Asia, eight in Europe, one in Pan America and one in Oceania. Africa is the only continent that has not won a medal.
The big winner at the first edition in Malmö 1977 was Denmark. The country won three golds, a silver, and a bronze, with Lene Køppen winning gold in both singles and mixed doubles event. At the second edition in Jakarta 1980, the host country sent their players to the finals round in all events. Indonesia had won four titles, except in women's doubles taken by the English pair, Christian Hadinata secured two golds in the men's and mixed doubles events. China and South Korea made their first appearance in the third edition in Copenhagen 1983, and the Chinese team topped the medal standing by winning the women's singles and doubles. China won the remaining three titles in Calgary 1985 and made a truly indelible mark on the next edition by sweeping all five gold medals in Beijing 1987. [1]
At the age of 18, Ratchanok Intanon became the youngest winner of a singles title at the Championships. [2] Ratchanok was less than 3 months older than Jang Hye-ock was when she won the women's doubles title at the 1995 Championships. [3]
In Nanjing 2018, Kento Momota became the first Japanese player to win the gold medal in the men's singles event, also in 2015, he secured first medal for Japan in the men's singles by winning a bronze. [4]
In Basel 2019, for the first time since 1983, China only had one representative in the final round. [5] P.V. Sindhu became the first Indian player to win the gold medal at the World Championships and also became the only other woman singles player along with China's Zhang Ning to have won five World Championship medals. [6] Japanese Kento Momota, and the duo Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara retained their titles from the previous edition. Japanese mixed doubles pair Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino and the Thai men's singles player Kantaphon Wangcharoen, became the first players from their countries that won medals in the mixed doubles and men's singles events respectively.
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 a two-time Olympic Champion, two-time World Champion, and four-time European Champion. He has held the No. 1 BWF World Ranking in men's singles for a total of 183 weeks, and he is the current world No. 2. Throughout his career, Axelsen has won every single major title in both team and individual events at least once, except for Sudirman Cup. Known for his powerful smashes and solid defence, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest badminton players of all time.
The BWF World Championships, aka the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament organized by the Badminton World Federation. It's the most prestigious badminton competition, offering the most ranking points, along with the Summer Olympics badminton events introduced in 1992. The winners of the tournament are World Champions of the sport and are awarded a gold medal.
Ratchanok Intanon is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by commentators such as Gillian Clark. She became the world champion in women's singles in 2013.
Tai Tzu-ying is a Taiwanese badminton player. At the age of 22, she achieved world no.1 in the BWF women's singles ranking in December 2016, and has held that title for 214 weeks, the longest in BWF history. Tai was the women's singles silver medalist in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the 2021 BWF World Championships. She was gold medalist in the 2017 Summer Universiade and the 2018 Asian Games. She was the champion of BWF Super Series Finals/BWF World Tour Finals a record four times. She was thrice the champion of the All England Open, and of the Asian Championships.
Michelle Li is a Canadian badminton player. Li is the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion and the first Canadian to win an individual gold medal in women's singles badminton at the Commonwealth Games. She has won gold in both singles and doubles at the Pan American Games and won the singles and team event titles from the Pan American Badminton Championships. As a competitor for Ontario, Li also won singles, doubles, and mixed team titles at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.
Badminton is a popular sport in India. It is managed by the Badminton Association of India which is associated with Badminton Asia and Badminton World Federation.
Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth is an Indian former badminton player. He became the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to win a bronze medal in the BWF World Championships in 2019 after Prakash Padukone in 1983. Sai Praneeth was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2019. His parents are Seshadri Deekshitulu and Madhavi Latha of Palakollu, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. His maternal aunt was a national level badminton player.
Nozomi Okuhara is a Japanese badminton player. A former World's number 1 in the BWF rankings for the women's singles, she is well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She won a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and gold medal at the 2017 World Championships.
Akane Yamaguchi is a Japanese badminton player. She was a two-time world champion who won gold medals in the women's singles at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships. She was a member of the winning Japanese team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2012 and won the World Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, the Asian Junior Championships in 2014, and the Asian Championships in 2019.
Kento Momota is a former Japanese badminton player. He has won several major badminton tournaments including two World Championships titles, two Asian Championships titles, and one All England title. Momota has received a Guinness World Records certificate for "The most badminton men's singles titles in a season", for his achievements by winning 11 titles in the 2019 season.
He Bingjiao is a Chinese badminton player. She won the silver medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics and 2019 Asian Championships. She also won the bronze medals at the 2018 and 2021 World Championships, 2017 and 2024 Asian Championships as well at the 2022 Asian Games. She was part of the Chinese winning team at the 2021 and 2023 Sudirman Cup, 2020 and 2024 Uber Cup, and also at the 2016 Asia Team Championships. In addition, she was the gold medalists in the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.
Shi Yuqi is a Chinese badminton player who is currently the world number one in the men's singles. Shi won his first Superseries title in the 2016 French Open. At the 2017 All England Open, he defeated 6-time champion Lin Dan to reach the final, and repeated the same feat again at the 2018 All England Open, where he outclassed Lin Dan in the tournament final. He also won a silver medal at the 2018 World Championships.
Yuta Watanabe is a Japanese badminton player. He is a member of the Nihon Unisys team, and national team A representative. Known for his quick and explosive movements with signature drop shots on court, Watanabe, together with Arisa Higashino, had won 2 consecutive bronze medals in the mixed doubles event at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, as well as being four-time BWF World Championships medalists.
Arisa Igarashi is a Japanese badminton player. She won bronze in the mixed team at the Asian Junior Championships in 2013 and 2014, and competed at the 2014 World Junior Championships, winning two bronzes in the mixed doubles and team event.
Chen Yufei is a Chinese badminton player. She won the gold medal in Badminton singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In her junior career, she won the girls' singles titles at the 2016 Asian and the World Junior Championships. At the same year, Chen clinched her first senior title at the Macau Open. She won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships and was awarded as the Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year in 2017. On 17 December 2019, she reached a career-high BWF World Ranking as world number 1, and finished the year as the year-end no.1. Other achievements include winning the World Tour Finals in 2019 and silver medals at the 2022 World Championships and Asian Games.
The Yonex Thailand Open was a badminton tournament which took place at the Impact Arena in Thailand from 12 to 17 January 2021. It had a total purse of $1,000,000.
The Toyota Thailand Open was a badminton tournament that took place at the Impact Arena in Thailand from 19 to 24 January 2021. It had a total purse of $1,000,000.
The 2022 Malaysia Open was a badminton tournament that took place at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 28 June to 3 July 2022 and had a total prize of US$675,000. This was the first edition to take place since 2019.
