The 1961 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 thereafter every two years. Nineteen teams, eighteen of them starting from four regional qualifying zones, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and Pan America, contested for the Thomas Cup during the 1960-1961 seasons. Zone winners then played-off in Jakarta, Indonesia for the right to face defending champion Indonesia (exempt from all earlier ties), in a conclusive challenge round. For a more detailed description of the Thomas Cup format, see Wikipedia's general article on the Thomas Cup.
This was the first international multi-sport event hosted by Indonesia, who was only 15 years old at the time. The venue was the Istora Gelora Bung Karno, which was only opened on 11 days before the tournament.
Despite missing its best known singles player, Charoen Wattanasin, Thailand again prevailed in the Asian zone by beating, consecutively, India (6–3), three time former champion Malaya (7–2), and Pakistan (8–1). Of note in these ties, the talented Nandu Natekar had a hand in all of the individual matches which India salvaged, while Malaya's Eddie Choong, well past his prime at a fairly young age, was routinely beaten in both of his singles. No player on Thailand's team was more than twenty-four years old.
For the second straight time Japan defaulted an Australasian zone tie, this time allowing Australia, led by Kenneth Turner, to advance to the inter-zone phase after its 8–1 victory over New Zealand. Star-studded Denmark coasted through three ties in the European zone, shutting out its usual victim England in the zone final. The same two-way American zone race ended as before with the United States beating Canada 7–2. Evergreen Joe Alston and Wynn Rogers still led the way in doubles for the USA which also had a small but competent cadre of international level singles players.
The following teams, shown by region, qualified for the 1961 Thomas Cup. Defending champion and host Indonesia automatically qualified to defend their title.
