21 teams from 4 regions took part in the competition. As defending champion, Indonesia skipped the Qualifications and the first round, and played directly in the second round (semifinal) of the Inter-Zone Ties. Political disputes played a significant role in the 1978–1979 Thomas Cup series. Though the
People's Republic of China had been producing players of astonishing ability since the mid-1960s, its entry into the
International Badminton Federation (now the
Badminton World Federation) had been delayed for years over the
Taiwan issue. In 1978 the PRC took the step of fostering a rival international badminton organization and running its own version of a world championship (for individual players) in 1979. The Asian zone all but disappeared in the political upheaval, as four national teams, including traditionally strong
Thailand, either withdrew or were scratched from the competition. This left only
India to visit
Malaysia in a replay of their
1976 tie (team match), which Malaysia had won after trailing 1–4. Those young Malaysians had gone on to reach the tournament final but none had since developed into true world-class stars. Thus India, on the strength of three wins by
Prakash Padukone, was able to avenge its 1976 loss in another extremely close contest (5–4) and win the Asian zone for the first time since
1955. Competing in the Australasian zone for the first time since the
1966-1967 series,
Japan encountered strong opposition from host
New Zealand but survived 5–4. It was
Richard Purser's sixth Thomas Cup campaign for the Kiwis. The Japanese then went on to shut out
Australia in the zone final, despite some close matches. In the European Zone,
England could not take advantage of a fine performance by
Ray Stevens (winning only matches where he participated), and went down to
Sweden 3–6. The Swedes, however, were beaten in the final for the fourth consecutive time by
Denmark 2–7. It was the last of five occasions in which Denmark's
Svend Pri and Sweden's
Sture Johnsson played on opposite sides of a Thomas Cup tie, though they did not play directly against each other this time. Young
Morten Frost for Denmark and
Thomas Kihlstrom for Sweden were the leading performers in the contest. The fallout over these developments reached into the Pan American zone of Thomas Cup which
Taiwan (Republic of China) had entered. Drawing
Mexico, Taiwan agreed to drop out of the competition when the Mexican Association protested against its entry. Mexico then defaulted the zone final to
Canada which, effectively, won the zone by squeezing past the
USA in the semifinal 5–4. In nine Thomas Cup meetings between Canada and the United States it was the first time in which no player over 30 participated in the tie. == Squads ==