Until Scotland went on court against Finland in the Sudirman Cup last night, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the World Team Badminton Championships had no title sponsor.

Behind the scenes, organisers walked a tightrope, apparently feeling as if they were balancing over a pool full of circling predators, hungrily waiting to snatch their tournament from them for a pittance.

With the Glasgow 2014 evaluation commission from the Commonwealth Games Federation due to appear last night, to witness showcase matches, anything which hinted at organisation problems could have been devastating.

If Glasgow can't organise one event without a crisis, what chance have they got when they are trying to stage 17 major sports champion-ships at one time, goes the rhetoric.

Chinese whispers were that the event had lost its sponsor and was struggling to find a new one, and that Badmintonscotland might have a £75,000 black hole in the event budget.

That was the figure that had been agreed with a Malaysian-based international marketing agency, Sports Media Promotions (SMP), who purchase the rights to events and then sell them on. Since they are providing sponsorship for the 12-tournament world Super Series ($200,000 prize money per event, and $500,000 for the world final) there was no concern over their ability to deliver.

The deal had been agreed in principle last September, and more or less finalised by December. Only a final signature was required, but alarm bells filled the silence that followed. When SMP could not find a buyer, they said they were unable to act as title sponsors. As recently as Saturday, The Herald understands the championships were available to the highest bidder.

Senior officers of the Badminton World Federation were in contact with international companies in the Far East, but their intervention was compromised by the suspension of the BWF chief operations manager, Mr Ganga Rao, who had been locked out of his office in Kuala Lumpur in what has been characterised as "a power struggle".

Meanwhile, in Scotland, word had got out. "There was one offer of additional investment towards reducing the projected deficit, but it was only £15,000," said Anne Smillie, Badmintonscotland's chief executive. "That was absolutely out of the question. We would have dug into our own grant aid, for staffing costs, to avoid that.

"Selling out for a pittance would not only have compromised the value of future major sports events in Scotland, but would have been detrimental to badminton worldwide. It would have been little short of a betrayal, abrogation of our responsibility to the sport."

It was at the 11th hour, when China went on court against England yesterday evening, and the hosts met Finland, before the elusive sponsor branding appeared. Out came the boards bearing the legend: 361' - not instantly recognisable in Britain, but a major textile company in China. SMP also agreed to take boards as part of the package.

With Chinese TV covering the event, even if there is no live terrestrial UK coverage, rights in the exploding Far East economy are valuable. A year out from the Beijing Olympics, European companies appear to have been slow to grasp the scale of these market opportunities. But at last Smillie could breathe more easily.

"I couldn't sleep these past few nights," she admitted. "I'd been looking at ways to further rack up ticket sales and marketing. We are delighted SMP have come on board. It's been a rather fraught process.

"We thought everything had been resolved before Christmas, but SMP's client list was in conflict with existing backers of the sport in Scotland. SMP offered a car company, Proton, for example, but we already have Phoenix.

They offered a financial institution, but we already have the Bank of Scotland. But by bringing 361 on board, we have closed that hole."

Sky's four days' live coverage from tomorrow is welcome, but it is hard to believe that terrestrial TV would have ignored live coverage had this been in England.

The event could not go ahead without a complex support package, but organisers have their hands tied. "There is no opportunity for an organising body to make a profit to help development," says Smillie. "UK Sport help us, but the last instalment, £28,000, is available only once you have failed to make a profit.

"Effectively, you must lose £28,000 before you make a penny. You used to be allowed to keep any surplus if it was to be used for development. That was more of an incentive."

A string of agencies have vested interests: UK Sport, Event-scotland, Glasgow City Marketing and the city's 2014 bid, sportscotland and commercial entities like the bank, Yonex and Phoenix cars. Most are invaluable, but some are clearly trying to punch above their weight. Few things are more dangerous to a major event than over-prescriptive or greedy supporters.