Seventeen years after Hyderabad hosted the BWF World Championships, badminton’s biggest tournament is returning to India with the 2026 edition set to begin at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. The return offers an opportunity to look back at the last time the world’s best shuttlers gathered in India — an edition remembered for China’s extraordinary dominance, Lin Dan’s historic triumph and one of the greatest men’s doubles finals in World Championships history.Hyderabad 2009 was very much the era of the Chinese juggernaut. China won four of the five gold medals on offer, with Denmark’s Thomas Laybourn and Kamilla Rytter Juhl providing the only interruption to their sweep by winning the mixed doubles title.The competitive landscape, however, has changed significantly since then. Three of the five finals in Hyderabad featured players or pairs from the same country, whereas only one of the 25 finals across the last five editions has been an all-same-country affair.
Lin Dan completed historic hat-trick
The men’s singles title in Hyderabad cemented Lin Dan’s status as one of badminton’s greats. The Chinese star arrived as a two-time world champion and left with a third title, having dropped only one game throughout the tournament.Lin’s path included the unexpected quarterfinal exit of Lee Chong Wei, who lost to Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro. Two-time champion Taufik Hidayat reached the semifinals but was comfortably beaten by China’s Chen Jin, while Lin defeated Chen in the final to add another world title to the Olympic gold he had won in Beijing the previous year.China also dominated the women’s events. Lu Lan defeated two-time champion Xie Xingfang in the women’s singles final, while Zhang Yawen and Zhao Tingting claimed their first world title in women’s doubles.
A final for the ages in men’s doubles
The tournament’s most memorable contest came in men’s doubles, where Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng faced South Korea’s Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae.The Chinese pair eventually prevailed 28-26, winning an extraordinary 75-minute final that has since been regarded as one of the greatest men’s doubles matches played at the World Championships.That victory gave China its fourth gold of the tournament and provided a dramatic finale to an event that had produced compelling action throughout the week.
17 years later, a different badminton landscape
The 2009 championships began amid concerns over a bird-flu outbreak in Asia, but those worries quickly faded once the competition got underway. Seventeen years later, the tournament returns to India in a considerably more competitive badminton landscape.The Chinese dominance that defined Hyderabad continued for a few more years but has not been replicated by any nation since 2012. That expanded competitive field will be on display in New Delhi, with the world’s leading players arriving with ambitions of winning the world title.The venue itself has also undergone a major transformation ahead of the tournament. More than Rs 20 crore has reportedly been spent on refurbishing the stadium following concerns raised during the India Open earlier this year, which served as a test event.With players already training at the revamped stadium, attention now shifts to whether India’s return as World Championships hosts can produce another memorable chapter.
