1952 Thomas Cup knockout stage
Badminton tournament
The knockout stage for the 1952 Thomas Cup began on 24 May 1952 with the first-round knockout and ended on 1 June with the final tie.
Qualified teams
The teams that won their zonal tie qualified for the final knockout stage.
| Group | Winners |
|---|---|
| C |  Malaya |
| A |  United States |
| P |  India |
| E |  Denmark |
Bracket
| First round | Second round | Challenge round | ||||||||
| Malaya | ||||||||||
| Bye | ||||||||||
| Malaya | ||||||||||
| Bye | ||||||||||
| 31 May 1952 – Singapore | ||||||||||
| Malaya | 7 | |||||||||
| 24 May 1952 – Kuala Lumpur | ||||||||||
| United States | 2 | |||||||||
| Denmark | 3 | |||||||||
| 27 May 1952 – Singapore | ||||||||||
| India | 6 | |||||||||
| India | 4 | |||||||||
| United States | 5 | |||||||||
| United States | ||||||||||
| Bye | ||||||||||
First round
In a three way single elimination tournament within a tournament, the USA received the bye and awaited the winner of the tie between Denmark and India. The results here surprised some as the Danes, affected more by Kuala Lumpur's heat and humidity, were defeated 3–6. Either Trilok Nath Seth or Devinder Mohan Lal figured in all of the matches won by India.
 Denmark 3 | Selangor Badminton Association Hall Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 24–25 May 1952 [1][2] |  India 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Second round
Three days later in Singapore, however, thirty-six-year-old Marten Mendez, who seemed to draw strength from the 40 degree Celsius heat inside Happy World Stadium, beat both Seth and Devinder in singles, helping The USA to a 4–1 lead. India then gamely fought back to win a series of close matches and pull even at four matches each. It was left to the strong U.S. doubles team of Joe Alston and Wynn Rogers to fight back from near defeat in the final match and clinch the victory for the Americans.
 United States 5 | Happy World Stadium, Singapore 27–28 May 1952 [3][4] | India 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Challenge round
An American team that no longer had the legendary Dave Freeman was further weakened when Joe Alston, a newly employed agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was denied an extension of his leave. It faced a formidable Malayan squad, in Malaya, led by the cool and graceful Wong Peng Soon who, though almost as old as Marten Mendez, was still in his prime. He proved this by defeating Mendez and Dick Mitchell routinely in straight games. Malaya's most effective team member, however, might have been the quick and tenacious Ong Poh Lim who routed his opponent in the third singles match and won both of his doubles matches with Ismail bin Marjan. For the Americans, the exceptionally fit Mendez forced a third game default from Ooi Teik Hock while doubles specialist Wynn Rogers and hard smashing Bobby Williams split two close encounters with their Malayan counterparts. It was not enough against a deeper lineup, and Malaya retained the Thomas Cup at seven matches to two.
 Malaya 7 | Happy World Stadium, Singapore 31 May – 1 June 1952 [5][6][7][8] | United States 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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