BWF World Championships explained


Current Season:	2023 BWF World Championships
Formerly:	IBF World Championships
Sport:	Badminton
Country:	BWF member nations

The BWF World Championships, aka the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament organized by the Badminton World Federation.^[1] It's the most prestigious badminton competition, offering the most ranking points, along with the Summer Olympics badminton events introduced in 1992.^[2] The winners of the tournament are World Champions of the sport and are awarded a gold medal.^[3]

The tournament started in 1977 and was held once every three years until 1983. However, the International Badminton Federation faced difficulty in hosting the first two events as the World Badminton Federation, which later merged with the IBF to form one badminton federation, hosted the same tournament a year after the IBF World Championships with the same goals.

Since 1985, the tournament became biennial and played once every two years until 2005. Starting 2006, the tournament was changed to an annual event on the BWF calendar. The tournament is not held during the Summer Olympics years to avoid schedule conflicts.

Editions

Year	Edition	Host City	Dates	Top Nation
1977	I	Malmö, Sweden	3 to 8 May	Denmark
1980	II	Jakarta, Indonesia	27 May to 1 June	Indonesia
1983	III	Copenhagen, Denmark	2 to 8 May	China
1985	IV	Calgary, Canada	10 to 16 June	China
1987	V	Beijing, China	18 to 24 May	China
1989	VI	Jakarta, Indonesia	29 May to 4 June	China
1991	VII	Copenhagen, Denmark	2 to 8 May	China
1993	VIII	Birmingham, England	31 May to 6 June	Indonesia
1995	IX	Lausanne, Switzerland	22 to 28 May	Indonesia
1997	X	Glasgow, Scotland	24 May to 1 June	China
1999	XI	Copenhagen, Denmark	10 to 23 May	South Korea
2001	XII	Seville, Spain	3 to 10 June	China
2003	XIII	Birmingham, England	28 July to 3 August	China
2005	XIV	Anaheim, United States	15 to 21 August	China
2006	XV	Madrid, Spain	18 to 24 September	China
2007	XVI	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	13 to 19 August	China
2009	XVII	Hyderabad, India	10 to 16 August	China
2010	XVIII	Paris, France	23 to 29 August	China
2011	XIX	London, England	8 to 14 August	China
2013	XX	Guangzhou, China	5 to 11 August	China
2014	XXI	Copenhagen, Denmark	25 to 31 August	China
2015	XXII	Jakarta, Indonesia	10 to 16 August	China
2017	XXIII	Glasgow, Scotland	21 to 27 August	China
2018	XXIV	Nanjing, China	30 July to 5 August	China
2019	XXV	Basel, Switzerland	19 to 25 August	Japan
2021	XXVI	Huelva, Spain	12 to 19 December	Japan
2022	XXVII	Tokyo, Japan	22 to 28 August	China
2023	XXVIII	Copenhagen, Denmark	21 to 27 August	South Korea
2025	XXIX	Paris, France
2026	XXX	India

Venues

The table below gives an overview of all host cities and countries of the World Championships. The most recent games were held in Copenhagen. The number in parentheses following the city/country denotes how many times that city/country has hosted the championships. From 1989 to 2001 the world championships were held immediately after the Sudirman Cup at the same location.

Winners summary

See main article: Gold medalists at the BWF World Championships.

See also: List of BWF World Championships medalists. As of 2022, only 21 countries have achieved at least a bronze medal in the tournament: 11 from Asia, eight from Europe, and one each from Oceania and North America. Africa is the only confederation that has not won a medal.

At the age of 18, Ratchanok Inthanon became the youngest winner of a singles title at the Championships.^[4] Ratchanok was less than 3 months older than Jang Hye-ock was when she won the women's doubles title at the 1995 Championships.^[5]

Most successful players

Several players have won gold medals in more than one category in a World Championship; this includes:

Lene Køppen, 1977, mixed doubles and women's singles
Christian Hadinata, 1980, men's doubles and mixed doubles
Park Joo-bong, 1985 & 1991, men's doubles and mixed doubles
Han Aiping, 1985, women's singles and doubles
Ge Fei, 1997, women's doubles and mixed doubles
Kim Dong-moon, 1999, men's doubles and mixed doubles
Gao Ling, 2001, women's doubles and mixed doubles
Zhao Yunlei, 2014 & 2015, women's doubles and mixed doubles
Seo Seung-jae, 2023, men's doubles and mixed doubles

From 1977 up to 2001, the medals were usually divided among five countries, namely China, Korea, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia. However, in 2003, the winners included seven countries and in 2005 the medal board contained a record high of ten countries.

Tony Gunawan also bears the distinction of winning a gold medal in Men's Doubles, representing two countries, 2001 partnering with Halim Haryanto for Indonesia and in 2005 partnering with Howard Bach to give the United States its first medal in the competition.

The 2005 edition also brought new faces to the mixed doubles event which had been dominated by China and Korea since 1997. With the retirement of defending champions and two-time winners Kim Dong-moon/Ra Kyung-min (Korea), Nova Widianto/Liliyana Natsir won Indonesia's first mixed doubles gold since 1980 when Christian Hadinata/Imelda Wiguna won it last for Indonesia.

Below is the list of the most successful players ever, with 3 or more gold medals.

Rank	Player	MS	WS	MD	WD	XD	Total
1	Lin Dan	5					5
Zhao Yunlei				2	3	5
Park Joo-bong			2		3	5
4	Cai Yun			4			4
Chen Qingchen				4		4
Fu Haifeng			4			4
Gao Ling				3	1	4
Jia Yifan				4		4
Zhang Nan			1		3	4
Liliyana Natsir					4	4
Hendra Setiawan			4			4
12	Ge Fei				2	1	3
Guan Weizhen				3		3
Han Aiping		2		1		3
Huang Sui				3		3
Huang Yaqiong					3	3
Li Lingwei		2		1		3
Lin Ying				3		3
Yu Yang				3		3
Zheng Siwei					3	3
Mohammad Ahsan			3			3
Kim Dong-moon			1		2	3
Carolina Marín		3				3

Below is the list of the most successful player(s) in each category (listed according to their last title):

Category	Player	Total	Year
MS	Lin Dan	5	2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013
WS	Carolina Marín	3	2014, 2015, 2018
MD	Cai Yun	4	2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 (with Fu Haifeng)
Fu Haifeng	4	2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 (with Cai Yun)
Hendra Setiawan	4	2007 (with Markis Kido), 2013, 2015, 2019 (with Mohammad Ahsan)
WD	Chen Qingchen	4	2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 (with Jia Yifan)
Jia Yifan	4	2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 (with Chen Qingchen)
XD	Liliyana Natsir	4	2005, 2007 (with Nova Widianto), 2013, 2017 (with Tontowi Ahmad)

MS: Men's singles; WS: Women's singles; MD: Men's doubles; WD: Women's doubles; XD: Mixed doubles

Most successful national teams

Below is the gold medalists shown based by category and countries after the 2023 BWF World Championships. China has been the most successful in the World Championships ever since its inception in 1977. They were the only country ever to achieve a shutout of the medals which they did in 1987, 2010 and 2011.

BOLD means overall winner of that World Championships

Rank	Nation	77	80	83	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	06	07	09	10	11	13	14	15	17	18	19	21	22	23	Total
1	<	--77-->			2	3	5	4	3	1	1	3	2	3	3	2	4	3	4	5	5	2	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	1	70
2	<	--77-->	1	4	1					3	2	1		2		2		2				2		1	1		1				23
3	<	--77-->				2		1	2		1		2		1								1							3	13
4	<	--77-->	3		1					0.5	1	1	1		1				1						1				1		11.5
5	<	--77-->	1																						1	2	2	2	1		9
6	<	--77-->																					1	1		1					3
6	<	--77-->																				1						1		1	3
8	<	--77-->		1	0.5												1														2.5
9	<	--77-->																									1				1
	<	--77-->																											1		1
	<	--77-->																										1			1
	<	--77-->			0.5					0.5																					1
	<	--77-->														1															1

Korea won on the superior of two silver medals to China's one and thus Korea became the overall winner.

China won on superior of four silver medals to Indonesia's one and thus China became the overall winner.

China won on the superior of two silver medals to Indonesia's none and thus China became the overall winner.

China won on superior of four bronze medals to Japan's two and thus China became the overall winner.

Championship per country

Men's singles

Rank	width=150	Nation	77	80	83	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	06	07	09	10	11	13	14	15	17	18	19	21	22	23	Total
1					X	X	X	X				X		X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X							14
2			X	X					X	X			X		X															6
3		X									X													X				X		4
4																									X	X				2
5																											X			1
5																													X	1

Women's singles

Rank	width=150	Nation	77	80	83	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	06	07	09	10	11	13	14	15	17	18	19	21	22	23	Total
1				X	X	X	X	X		X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X										15
2																								X			X	X		3
2																						X	X		X					3
4		X										X																		2
4			X						X																					2
6																										X				1
																					X									1
																													X	1

Men's doubles

Rank	width=150	Nation	77	80	83	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	06	07	09	10	11	13	14	15	17	18	19	21	22	23	Total
1		X	X						X	X	X		X				X				X		X			X				10
2						X	X									X		X	X	X				X	X					8
3					X			X				X										X							X	5
4				X										X																2
5																											X			1
																												X		1
															X															1

Women's doubles

Rank	width=150	Nation	77	80	83	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	06	07	09	10	11	13	14	15	17	18	19	21	22	23	Total
1				X	X	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X			X	X	X	23
2		X																							X	X				3
3			X																											1
3										X																				1

Mixed doubles

Rank	width=150	Nation	77	80	83	85	87	89	91	93	95	97	99	01	03	05	06	07	09	10	11	13	14	15	17	18	19	21	22	23	Total
1						X					X		X						X	X		X	X		X	X		X		10
2					X		X	X				X		X															X	6
3			X												X		X				X			X						5
4		X							/	X								X												3.5
5				/												X														1.5
6				\					\																					1
6																											X			1

Medal distribution

Men's singles

Due to the disqualification on suspicion of violation of anti-doping regulations, the 2014 silver medalist Lee Chong Wei was stripped of his medal and thus the medal count does not add up.^[6]

Mixed doubles

Notes and References

Web site: World Ranking System. 29 December 2015. Badminton World Federation. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305074301/http://bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=679518&dl=1. 2016-03-05. dead.
Web site: Regulations for World Championships. 29 December 2015. Badminton World Federation. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305012301/http://bwfbadminton.org/file.aspx?id=680375&dl=1. 5 March 2016. dead.
News: Chin Chai hopes BWF will offer prize money for world meet. 23 August 2013. The Star. 17 April 2013.
News: World champion Ratchanok Inthanon also a 'devoted' kid. 15 August 2013. The Indian Express. 12 August 2013.
News: Hearn. Don. WORLDS Finals – Ratchanok youngest ever singles World Champion. 16 August 2013. Badzine. 11 August 2013.
News: Lee Chong Wei: Badminton star given eight-month ban for doping. 27 April 2015. BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 27 April 2015.