# Badminton World Invitational Championships

World Invitation Championships was the invitational event in badminton, which was conducted in the absence of a world championship (the first badminton world championship took place only in 1977) brought together top players from all major badminton nations in a kind of unofficial world championship. The winner of this tournament is not called as the World Champions, since the players who compete are only those who receive invitations from the event organizer.

## About

Thirteen World Invitation Tournaments took place in Scotland from 1954 to 1974 at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. In November 1972, the Asia hosted first World Invitation Tournament in Jakarta. Others followed in Jakarta in October 1974 and in Kuala Lumpur in September 1975. In 1972 only the men's competitions were held and in 1974 and 1975 the women's competitions were reintroduced. 1974 had two editions, first of which was held in Glasgow in March where the second one was held in Jakarta in the month of October. One edition of Invitational World Championship was hosted by now defunct World Badminton Federation (WBF) in 1978.

## Winners

| Year | Host city | Men's singles | Women's singles | Men's doubles | Women's doubles | Mixed doubles |
| 1954 | Glasgow | Eddy Choong | not conducted | Ooi Teik Hock Ong Poh Lim | Iris Cooley June White | Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Birgit Schultz-Pedersen |
| 1956 | Glasgow | Joe Alston | not conducted | Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Finn Kobberø | Margaret Varner Lois Alston | Finn Kobberø Marjory B. Forrester |
| 1957 | Glasgow | Eddy Choong | not conducted | Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Finn Kobberø | Margaret Varner Lois Alston | John R. Best Iris Rogers |
| 1958 | Glasgow | Ferry Sonneville | not conducted | Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Finn Kobberø | Margaret Varner Heather Ward | Poul-Erik Nielsen Aase Winther |
| 1959 | Glasgow | Charoen Wattanasin | not conducted | Teh Kew San Lim Say Hup | Catherine Dunglison Wilma Tyre | Tony Jordan June Timperley |
| 1960 | Glasgow | Finn Kobberø | not conducted | Poul-Erik Nielsen Finn Kobberø | Margaret Varner Pratuang Pattabongse | Poul-Erik Nielsen Hanne Jensen |
| 1962 | Glasgow | Charoen Wattanasin | not conducted | Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Finn Kobberø | Karin Jørgensen Ulla Rasmussen | Robert McCoig Wilma Tyre |
| 1963 | Glasgow | Erland Kops | not conducted | Poul-Erik Nielsen Erland Kops | Karin Jørgensen Ulla Rasmussen | Poul-Erik Nielsen Ulla Rasmussen |
| 1965 | Glasgow | Erland Kops | not conducted | Tan Yee Khan Ng Boon Bee | Margaret Barrand Jennifer Pritchard | Tony Jordan Jennifer Pritchard |
| 1966 | Glasgow | Tan Aik Huang | not conducted | Tan Yee Khan Ng Boon Bee | Margaret Barrand Jennifer Pritchard | Tony Jordan Jennifer Pritchard |
| 1969 | Glasgow | Tan Aik Huang | not conducted | Tony Jordan Roger Powell | Noriko Takagi Hiroe Amano | Tony Jordan Susan Whetnall |
| 1971 | Glasgow | Sture Johnsson | Eva Twedberg | Mac Henderson Jim Ansari | Eva Twedberg Maureen Hume | Fraser Gow Joanne Flockhart |
| 1972 | Jakarta | Rudy Hartono | not conducted | Tjun Tjun Johan Wahjudi | not conducted | not conducted |
| 1974 (March) | Glasgow | Svend Pri | Hiroe Yuki | Punch Gunalan Dominic Soong | Machiko Aizawa Etsuko Takenaka | Robert McCoig Margaret Beck |
| 1974 (October) | Jakarta | Svend Pri | Margaret Beck | Tjun Tjun Johan Wahjudi | Minarni Regina Masli | Christian Hadinata Regina Masli |
| 1975 | Kuala Lumpur | Liem Swie King | Hiroe Yuki | Tjun Tjun Johan Wahjudi | Margaret Beck Gillian Gilks | Christian Hadinata Regina Masli |
| 1978 (WBF) | Hong Kong | Chen Tianlung | Liang Qiuxia | Lin Shiquan Tang Xianhu | Li Fang Liang Qiuxia | Fu Han Ping Amy Chan |

## Performances by nation

| Ranking | Country | MS | WS | MD | WD | XD | Total |
| 1 | Denmark | 5 | | 6 | 2 | 4.5 | 17.5 |
| 2 | England | | 1 | 1 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 13 |
| 3 | Indonesia | 3 | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Malaysia | 4 | | 5 | | | 9 |
| 4 | Scotland | | | 1 | 1.5 | 3 | 5.5 |
| 5 | China | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 4 |
| 5 | Japan | | 2 | | 2 | | 4 |
| 5 | United States | 1 | | | 3 | | 4 |
| 6 | Sweden | 1 | 1 | | 0.5 | | 2.5 |
| 6 | Thailand | 2 | | | 0.5 | | 2.5 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | | | | | 1 | 1 |