The 1981 Badminton World Cup was the third edition of an international tournament Badminton World Cup. The event was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 7 October to 11 October 1981. Competitions for doubles were not conducted. India won men's singles event while China won women's singles event.
| Tournament details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 7 October – 11 October 1981 | ||
| Edition | 3rd | ||
| Total prize money | US$118,000 | ||
| Venue | Stadium Negara | ||
| Location | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | ||
| |||
Medalists edit
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's singles |  Prakash Padukone
|
 Han Jian
|
Chen Changjie
|
| Women's singles | Chen Ruizhen
|
Li Lingwei
|
 Ivana Lie
|
Men's singles edit
| Semifinal | Final | ||||||||||||
| Prakash Padukone
| 15 | 15 | |||||||||||
| Chen Changjie
| 6 | 8 | |||||||||||
| Prakash Padukone
| 15 | 18 | |||||||||||
| Han Jian
| 0 | 16 | |||||||||||
| Hadiyanto
| 15 | 15 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Han Jian
| 17 | 13 | 15 | Third place | |||||||||
| Chen Changjie
| 15 | 15 | |||||||||||
| Hadiyanto
| 12 | 10 | |||||||||||
Women's singles edit
| Semifinal | Final | ||||||||||||
| Chen Ruizhen
| 11 | 11 | |||||||||||
| Ivana Lie
| 5 | 5 | |||||||||||
| Chen Ruizhen
| 12 | 2 | 11 | ||||||||||
| Li Lingwei
| 10 | 11 | 7 | ||||||||||
 Wendy Carter
| 3 | 6 | |||||||||||
| Li Lingwei
| 11 | 11 | Third place | ||||||||||
| Ivana Lie
| 11 | 11 | |||||||||||
| Wendy Carter
| 0 | 8 | |||||||||||