From April 27 to May 5, Beijing time, 32 of the world's top badminton teams will gather in Chengdu, China, to compete in the 2024 BWF Men's and Women's Team Championships - Thomas and Uber Cup. The Thomas Cup is the World Men's Badminton Team Championships, and this tournament will be the 33rd Thomas Cup, with India as the defending champion. The Uber Cup is the women's team world championship, which will be played for 30 years, and the defending champion is the South Korean team.
National feather men's singles star Shi Yuqi
Looking back on the history of the Tang You Cup, the Chinese team has won the Tang Cup 10 times 21 times, and won the Uber Cup 15 times 20 times, far exceeding the 6 times of the Japanese team. In this competition, the Chinese team will participate as the host and will be one of the favorites to win the championship.
With the exception of the defending champion and the host country, the other participating teams qualified through tournament results or world rankings from their continent.
It is worth mentioning that this tournament will be the last time that former men's world No. 1 Kento Momota will participate in an international competition. A week ago, the Japanese player announced that he would retire from the Japanese team after the Toyu Cup, but said he would continue to work hard for the development of badminton.
The Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup each feature 16 teams and they will be divided into four groups of four teams to play a round-robin tournament. In the group stage, even if the group score has been decided in advance, it is still necessary to play five games, and the top two teams in the group will advance to the knockout stage.
In the knockout stage, the match is played in a best-of-five format, that is, the first team to win three games wins. Each match consists of three singles and two doubles, alternating between singles and doubles.
Teams and players to watch for the 2024 Thomas Cup
Hosts China will be the favourites in Group A, with opponents ranging from Australia, South Korea and Canada, ranked 33rd in the world.
In the last Bangkok Tongyou Cup, the Chinese men's team lost to Indonesia in the first round of the knockout round after qualifying from the group and stopped in the quarterfinals. Two years later, China fielded a strong and well-organized line-up, including world No. 2 Shi Yuqi and world No. 6 Li Shifeng in Men's Singles, as well as world No. 1 Men's Doubles pair Leung Wai Keng/Wang Chang and world No. 8 Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi.
Group B is led by fourth-seeded Japan, who will be hoping to cap off Momota's international career. Japan have only won the title once in their history (2014), and the last time they advanced to the final was in 2018, when they lost 3-1 to China and finished as runners-up.
Group C of the Thomas Cup is a true "Group of Death", bringing together the most successful teams in the history of the Thomas Cup, Indonesia, and defending champions India. Indonesia is the third seed in the tournament and will challenge for the 16th Thomas Cup in team history. Men's singles players Jonatan Christie and Anthony Ginting won and runner-up the All England Open this year, while their top doubles pair of Alfian and Ardianto also topped the All England Open. Also in the group are England and Thailand, with the latter having defending men's singles world champion Kunlavut and a force to be reckoned with.
In Group D, Malaysia, led by Lee Zi Jia, will face a strong Danish side that includes world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen and No. 4 Antonsen. Hong Kong, China will also be fighting for the right to qualify in the group.
Teams and players to watch in the 2024 Uber Cup
China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand are the four seeded teams in this year's Uber Cup, and they are the favourites on paper. In the first 29 competitions, China, Japan and South Korea won a total of 24 championships, and the last three championships have been won by these three countries.
The competition in the Uber Cup is mainly China, Japan and South Korea, and in the last Uber Cup, the Chinese women's team lost to the South Korean team 2-3 in the final. Two years later, China's squad is even more aligned, with Olympic champion and current world No. 2 Chen Yufei, Fan Chen/Jia Yifan dominating the women's doubles scene for nearly five years, and Liu Shengshu/Tan Ning, who have improved significantly over the past year and are ranked No. 3 in the world.
South Korea's strength has only increased since two years ago, and Ahn Se-young has now grown into a 'big devil' in the women's singles, while the women's doubles pair of Baek Ha Na/Lee So-hee and Kim So-young/Kong Hee Yong are ranked second and sixth in the world respectively. At the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, which ended last year, the South Korean team swept the Chinese team 3-0 to win the championship, and they are bound to win this Uber Cup.
Thailand have never won the Uber Cup, but they are just as strong, with four of the world's top 20 singles players and two doubles pairs ranked in the top 15.
However, not all of the world's top 20 players will be present at this Uber Cup. European champion Carolina Marin will miss the Chengdu tournament, with Spain withdrawing from the tournament before the draw.
2024 Thomas Cup (Men's Team) schedule
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8 hours)
Saturday, April 27
- 08:30, Group D: Malaysia VS Hong Kong
- 08:30, Group A: South Korea vs. Canada
- 13:00, Group A: China vs Australia
- 13:00, Group D: Denmark vs Algeria
- 18:00, Group C: Indonesia vs England
- 18:00, Group C: India vs. Thailand
Sunday, April 28
- 08:30, Group B: Japan vs Czech Republic
- 13:00, Group D: Denmark vs. Hong Kong
- 13:00, Group B: Chinese Taipei VS Germany
- 13:00, Group A: South Korea vs Australia
- 18:00, Group A: China VS Canada
- 18:00, Group D: Malaysia VS Algeria
Monday, April 29
- 09:30, Group C: Indonesia vs. Thailand
- 09:30, Group C: India vs. England
- 17:00, Group B: Japan vs. Germany
- 17:00, Group B: Chinese Taipei vs Czech Republic
Tuesday, April 30
- 09:30, Group A: Canada VS Australia
- 09:30, Group D: Hong Kong VS Algeria
- 17:00, Group A: China VS South Korea
- 17:00, Group D: Denmark vs. Malaysia
Wednesday, May 1
- 17:00, Group C: Indonesia vs India
- 17:00, Group B: Japan vs. Chinese Taipei
- 17:00, Group C: Thailand vs England
- 17:00, Group B: Germany vs. Czech Republic
Thursday, May 2
- The order of the matches is to be confirmed: quarter-finals
Friday, May 3
- The order of the matches is to be confirmed: quarter-finals
Saturday, May 4
- The order of the matches is to be confirmed: semi-finals
Sunday, May 5
- Time to be confirmed: Final
2024 Uber Cup (Women's Team) Schedule
All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8 hours)
Saturday, April 27
- 08:30, Group A: China VS Singapore
- 08:30, Group C: Japan vs Uganda
- 13:00, Group C: Indonesia vs. Hong Kong
- 13:00, Group A: India VS Canada
- 18:00, Group D: South Korea vs. Mexico
- 18:00, Group D: Denmark vs. USA
Sunday, April 28
- 08:30, Group B: Chinese Taipei VS Malaysia
- 08:30, Group A: India VS Singapore
- 08:30, Group B: Thailand vs Australia
- 13:00, Group A: China VS Canada
- 18:00, Group D: Denmark vs. Mexico
- 18:00, Group D: South Korea vs. USA
Monday, April 29
- 09:30,C组:Japan VS Hong Kong, China
- 09:30, Group B: Chinese Taipei vs Australia
- 17:00, Group B: Thailand vs. Malaysia
- 17:00, Group C: Indonesia VS Uganda
Tuesday, April 30
- 09:30, Group A: China vs India
- 09:30, Group D: South Korea vs. Denmark
- 17:00, Group A: Canada VS Singapore
- 17:00, Group D: USA vs. Mexico
Wednesday, May 1
- 09:30,C: Japan VS Inun
- 09:30, Group B: Thailand vs Chinese Taipei
- 09:30, Group B: Malaysia vs Australia
- 09:30, Group C: Hong Kong vs Uganda
Thursday, May 2
- The order of the matches is to be confirmed: quarter-finals
Friday, May 3
- The order of the matches is to be confirmed: quarter-finals
Saturday, May 4
- The order of the matches is to be confirmed: semi-finals
Sunday, May 5
- Time to be confirmed: Final
How to watch the 2024 Thomas Cup & Uber Cup
Domestic viewers can watch the live broadcast of the Chinese team's matches on CCTV-5.