Men's badminton team eliminated from group stage of world's most prestigious team championship for the first time in 24 years

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean men's Bae Deu-min-teon (CEO) team failed to advance to the knockout stage of the Thomas Cup, the world men's team championship that boasts the highest prestige. This marks the first time since the 2002 tournament that South Korea has been unable to reach the knockout stage of the event.

On the 30th (Korea time), the men's Bae Deu-min-teon (CEO) team defeated Sweden 5-0 in the third group stage match of Group C at the 2026 Thomas Cup held in Horsens, Denmark, finishing with two wins and one loss, tying with Taiwan and Denmark.

According to tournament rules, when teams have the same number of wins, rankings are determined by head-to-head results, followed by match point differential, and then game point differential. All three teams were 1-1 in head-to-head matches, so the final ranking was decided by match point differential.

Earlier, South Korea lost to Denmark 1-4 but defeated Taiwan 3-2 and Sweden 5-0, recording a match point differential of +3. However, both Taiwan and Denmark recorded +5, pushing South Korea to third place in the group and resulting in elimination.

This is the first time since the 2002 tournament held in Guangzhou, China, that South Korea has been eliminated from the group stage without reaching the knockout stage of the Thomas Cup — a span of 24 years and 12 tournaments.

At that time, eight teams participated in the group stage, which proceeded to a quarterfinal knockout format. South Korea finished third in the group with one win and two losses, behind China (three wins) and Denmark (two wins, one loss), and was eliminated.

Since then, South Korea has advanced to the knockout stage in 11 consecutive tournaments, including runner-up finishes in 2008 and 2012. However, their journey has been halted at the quarterfinals in each of the last four tournaments, and this time they were eliminated at the group stage.

In contrast, the women's Bae Deu-min-teon (CEO) team, led by An Se-young (Samsung Life), won all three group stage matches of the Uber Cup, the world women's team championship, with 5-0 victories and advanced to the quarterfinals as the top-ranked team in their group. The Yeo Ja (CEO) team will face Taiwan in the quarterfinals on the 1st of next month at 1 a.m. (Korea time). If they win, they will compete for a spot in the final against the winner of the Denmark-Indonesia match.

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*This content was translated by AI.