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 Choongnot conducted Ooi Teik Hock Ong Poh Lim Iris Cooley June White Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Birgit Schultz-Pedersen 1956 Joe Alston Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Finn Kobberø Margaret Varner Lois Alston Finn Kobberø Marjory B. Forrester 1957 Eddy Choong John R. Best Iris Rogers 1958 Ferry Sonneville Margaret Varner Heather Ward Poul-Erik Nielsen Aase Winther 1959 Charoen Wattanasin Teh Kew San Lim Say Hup Catherine Dunglison Wilma Tyre Tony Jordan June Timperley 1960 Finn Kobberø Poul-Erik Nielsen Finn Kobberø Margaret Varner Pratuang Pattabongse Poul-Erik Nielsen Hanne Jensen 1962 Charoen Wattanasin Jørgen Hammergaard Hansen Finn Kobberø Karin Jørgensen Ulla Rasmussen Robert McCoig Wilma Tyre 1963 Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen Erland Kops Poul-Erik Nielsen Ulla Rasmussen 1965 Tan Yee Khan Ng Boon Bee Margaret Barrand Jennifer Pritchard Tony Jordan Jennifer Pritchard 1966 Tan Aik Huang 1969 Tony Jordan Roger Powell Noriko Takagi Hiroe Amano Tony Jordan Susan Whetnall 1971 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 1974 (March) Glasgow Svend Pri Hiroe Yuki Punch Gunalan Dominic Soong Machiko Aizawa Etsuko Takenaka Robert McCoig Margaret Beck 1974 (October) Jakarta Margaret Beck Tjun Tjun Johan Wahjudi Minarni Regina Masli Christian Hadinata Regina Masli 1975 Kuala Lumpur Liem Swie King Hiroe Yuki 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 5 6 2 4.5 17.5 2 1 1 4.5 6.5 13 3 3 3 1 2 9 4 5 9 4 1 1.5 3 5.5 5 1 1 1 1 4 2 2 4 1 3 4 6 1 1 0.5 2.5 2 0.5 2.5 7 1 1
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