STL All Sports

An international team championship was envisioned about a decade after the successful launching of the Davis Cup tennis matches in 1900, but it was not until the 1930's that the game became organized in a sufficient number of countries to make the dream feasible. During this period no fewer than 9 countries-Australia, Denmark, India, Malaya, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Mexico and the Netherlands organized, national championships. Later, South Africa and New Zealand entered the fold and by 1940 badminton was on an organized scale in more than 16 countries. Today there are 49 member nations affiliated with the I.B.F.

The International Badminton Federation decided in March, 1939, that the time had arrived for the inauguration of international competition. Its president, Sir George A. Thomas, Baronet, offered a trophy for the winning team. The war and post-war shortages of shuttlecocks delayed the first Thomas Cup matches until the 1948-49 season.

The preliminary rounds for the Thomas Cup are played in four zones-American, Asian, Australasian, and European. The Asian Zone is subdivided into two sections-eastern and western. In 1967, the challenge tie was abolished and the champion nation now enters the competition in the semi-final round of its respective geographical division. The site of the final round (inter-zone semi-final and final ties) is determined by the International Badminton Federation.

Badminton can be played both indoors and outdoors, but finds its greatest vogue indoors, because the wind will greatly deflect the flight of the shuttlecock in outdoor play. The game therefore can be played at any time of the year. The season for tournament play is fall-winterspring. There is considerable play the year round in California, which has produced the largest number of outstanding players. The game not only intrigues the contestants, but is also a dazzling exhibition from the spectator's viewpoint. It calls for terrific volleying of an eccentric shuttlecock, which the players bat over a net. The flights of the shuttlecock and its sudden, unanticipated descents demand the utmost in speed and dexterity, calling for far more endurance than is demanded of a lawn tennis player.

In badminton, during a volley, the competing players are almost in perpetual motion, and the smallest fraction of a second not only may decide a point but also may determine a championship.