BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024: Preview, India squads and how to watch the live-action

Two-years go India pulled off a proverbial heist at Bangkok when they blanked defending champions Indonesia to bring home the coveted Thomas Cup for the very first time.

In overhauling Indonesia - the 14-time winners – India emerged as a force to be reckoned at the Thomas Cup.

And as thirty-two teams assemble at Chengdu, China for the 2024 BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals – set to run from 27 April through 5 May – India’s finest men and women shuttlers will once again head out in their quest to beat the best in badminton’s team world championship.

BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 Format

The 2024 edition marks the 33rd Thomas Cup for men and the 30th Uber Cup for women. While India won the former in resounding fashion in 2022, the women from the Republic of Korea are the defending champs of the Uber Cup.

Both events shall feature 16-teams, split into four-groups comprising of four-teams each. Every group-stage tie shall feature five individual matches. The top two teams in each group progress to the quarter-finals, which will be a knock-out affair.

From the quarter-finals onwards, every team plays a best-of-five match fixture, with a winner being declared after three individual match-wins.

And remember, every team’s match-fixture shall comprise of three singles and two doubles matches.

Indian Players to Watch

In the Thomas Cup, India finds itself in Group-C alongside formidable opponents in Indonesia, Thailand and England. Meanwhile, the Indian women are placed in Group-A, and will have to get past Canada, Singapore and hosts China to make it to the quarter-finals.

The Indian women will be banking on the euphoria of having cliched a historic gold medal at the Badminton Asia Team Championships earlier this year. That said, with stalwart PV Sindhu and the doubles pairs of Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto and Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa opting out, the squad has its work cut out. The onus, therefore, will fall on the young shoulders of Anmol Kharb – the 17-year-old national champion – to lead the charge.

The men’s squad, however, remains formidable and shall feature the leading doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Meanwhile, singles world championships medalists Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will share the singles responsibilities.

BWF Thomas and Uber Cup 2024: Indian Badminton Team Schedule

Thomas Cup

• April 27, Saturday: India vs Thailand - 3:30 PM

• April 29, Monday: India vs England - 7:00 AM

• May 1, Wednesday: India vs Indonesia - 5:00 PM

Uber Cup

• April 27, Saturday: India vs Canada – 10:30 AM

• April 28, Sunday: India vs Singapore - 6:00 AM

• April 30, Tuesday: India vs China – 7:00 AM

How and Where to Watch BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 Live

Fans can follow the exploits of the Indian stars live on JioCinema and Sports18.

Also, live-action from the BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2024 will be streamed on the Olympic Channel via Olympics.com.