The 1955 Thomas Cup competition is an international team tournament for supremacy in men's badminton (its female counterpart is the Uber Cup). Beginning in 1948–49, it was held every three years until 1982 and has been held every two years thereafter. Twenty-one national teams officially entered the third Thomas Cup series in 1954-1955 but two of these, Belgium and Burma, defaulted their opening ties (team matches). Four qualifying zones were established: Asia, Australasia, Europe and Pan America. Winners from each zone played-off in Singapore in late May and early June for the right to play Malaya which, as defending champion, was exempt until it met a challenger in a conclusive challenge round tie. For a more detailed description of the Thomas Cup format see Wikipedia's general article on the Thomas Cup.

1955 Thomas Cup
Tournament details
Dates24 May – 5 June 1955
Edition3rd
LevelInternational
Nations5
VenueSingapore Badminton Stadium
LocationSingapore
1952 1958

Qualification

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Means of qualification Date Venue Slot Qualified teams
1952 Thomas Cup 24 May – 1 June 1952 Singapore 1   Malaya
Asian Zone 27 June 1954 – 9 April 1955 Bangkok
Bombay
Colombo
Hong Kong
Karachi
1   India
American Zone 12 – 13 March 1955 Winnipeg 1   United States
European Zone 14 November 1954 – 3 April 1955 Bonn
Cardiff
Dublin
Dunfermline
Le Havre
Malmö
Stoke-on-Trent
1   Denmark
Australasian Zone 5 – 6 May 1955 Melbourne 1   Australia
Total 5

As it had in the 1951-1952 series, India won the Asian zone, its toughest competition coming in its opening contest against an improving Thailand 6–3 . In Europe Denmark, now boasting nineteen-year-old prodigy Finn Kobbero, beat three opponents with the loss of only one individual match. In the Pan American zone the USA lost 4 of 5 singles matches to Canada but won the tie by sweeping the doubles. In the Australasian zone J. E. Robson's singles victories were not enough to keep his New Zealand team from falling to Australia 2–7.

Squads

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Knockout stage

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The following teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1955 Thomas Cup. Defending champion and host Malaya automatically qualified to defend the title it had won three years previously.

Bracket

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First roundSecond roundChallenge round
 
          
 
 
 
 
  Malaya
 
 
 
Bye
 
  Malaya
 
 
 
Bye
 
 
 
4 June 1955 – Singapore
 
 
 
  Malaya8
 
24 May 1955 – Singapore
 
  Denmark1
 
  United States3
 
31 May 1955 – Singapore
 
  India6
 
  India3
 
27 May 1955 – Singapore
 
  Denmark6
 
  Australia0
 
 
  Denmark9
 

First round

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24 May 1955 (1955-05-24)
25 May 1952 (1952-05-25)
United States   3–6   India
Report
Singapore Badminton Stadium, Singapore
27 May 1955 (1955-05-27)
28 May 1955 (1955-05-28)
Denmark   9–0   Australia
Report
Singapore Badminton Stadium, Singapore

Second round

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31 May 1955 (1955-05-31)
1 June 1955 (1955-06-01)
Denmark   6–3   India
Report
Singapore Badminton Stadium, Singapore

Final

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4 June 1955 (1955-06-04)
5 June 1955 (1955-06-05)
Malaya   8–1   Denmark
Report
Singapore Badminton Stadium, Singapore


 1955 Thomas Cup winner 
 
Malaya
Third title

References

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  • tangkis.tripod.com
  • Mike's Badminton Populorum Archived 2016-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
  • Herbert Scheele ed., The International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1967 (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1967) 69–73.
  • Pat Davis, The Guinness Book of Badminton (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 121.