Badminton – Rules and History

Badminton is a fun game to set up at the family picnic, but a growing number of athletes are playing it for big money and prizes.

No prize is bigger than an Olympic gold medal, and badminton has been a medal sport since the Barcelona Games in 1992.

RULES and EQUIPMENT

To play badminton, you will need a net that is 5 feet high, a pair of wooden rackets and a shuttlecock. Also known as a birdie, the shuttlecock has a cork base with feathered body. It can also have a rubber base and a plastic body.

The court is 44 feet long and 17 feet wide. For doubles play, the court is 20 feet wide. The players toss a coin or spin the racket to determine who serves first. The winner of the coin toss could also pick a side of the court and let his opponent serve first.

Game play combines elements of tennis and volleyball. Badminton players serve underhand. As in tennis, the server must aim for a service court that is diagonally situated across the net.

Doubles and men’s singles games go to 15 points, while women’s singles games go to 11. As in volleyball, you only score a point when you serve. To win a match, you must win two out of three games.

Also as in volleyball, the recent trend of rally scoring allows a player to score a point whether he is serving or not. With rally scoring, a game will go up to 21 points.

Several tennis shots work in badminton, such as the smash, the lob and the drop shot.

The scoring gets a little goofy when it’s a close game. If the score is tied at 14, the player who reached 14 first can decide whether the game ends at 15 or 17 points. Similarly, when a women’s game is tied at 10, the first woman to reach that score can choose to end the game at 11 or 13.

HISTORY of BADMINTON

Badminton traces its roots to the game of battledore in ancient Greene. The sport evolved to a game called poona, which was popular in India. The British took the Indian game back home, where it was dubbed Badminton after the Badminton House in Gloucestershire.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) came together in 1934 with nine members: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand and the Netherlands.

Indonesia dominated the first Olympic competition in 1992, but China won the majority of medals in 2000 and 2004.

Aside from the Olympics, the most prestigious badminton competitions include the Thomas Cup and the World Grand Prix.