BADMINTON - AN OVERVIEW AND HISTORY OF THE SPORT

HISTORY
The beginnings of
badminton can be traced to
the mid-1800s, where it was
created by British military
officers stationed in British
India.

Originally called
'battledore' rather than
badminton, its use of a
shuttlecock, rather than a
ball, has remained constant
over the years.

Like most of the racket

sports, badminton in England was played by the upper classes.

However, rather than the athletic game we see today, it was a simple rally
competition where players would try to hit the shuttlecock as many times as possible
without it hitting the ground.

The sport of badminton underwent its first significant change in the 1800s when
British army officers in India introduced a net and court. The game was brought back
to England by retired officers and played at the Duke of Beaufort's home, Badminton
House in Gloucestershire. From that point onwards the game became known as
badminton.

During the 19th century, British military officers in the Indian town of Poona added a
net to the ancient game of battledore (meaning ‘bat’) and shuttlecock and named this
new game after the Indian town.

In year 1867, the rules for Poona were written.

The sport of Poona was eventually brought back home by the officers, and was played
at the Duke of Beaufort’s Gloucestershire residence in 1873. The residence was (and
is still) called Badminton House, which is how this thrilling sport got the name used
today.

And in year 1877 the Bath Badminton Club developed the first written rules for the
sport. The following year the New York Badminton Club was founded, the world’s first
badminton organization. The New York Badminton Club became society leaders
weekend meeting place.

In year 1893 the Badminton Association was formed by 14 affiliated clubs and
together they standardized of the measurements of the court, and a set of rules for
the sport was agreed upon.
In year 1898, the first unofficial all-England badminton championships for men were
held.

20th Century
In the 1930s the sport boomed as Hollywood personalities Bette Davis, Douglas
Fairbanks and many more showed a keen interest in the sport. Also, during that time,
many educational institutions, YMCAs and sports academies offered badminton in
their curriculum, which fueled the popularity of Badminton.

As Badminton grew rapidly on a global scale, the Badminton Association felt that a
more ‘Internationally representative’ body was needed to govern the sport.
 Eventually in the morning of 5 July 1934 at 10:30am, in Centre Block, Bush House,
London, the IBF (International Badminton Federation) was created with 9 founding
members (Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Scotland and Wales) and has since expanded to 173 members with its head
office at Cheltenham, UK.

Following that, America’s various badminton group formed the American Badminton
Association and standardized the rules and regulations and became a member of IBF
in 1938.

Soon in year 1948, the first major IBF tournament, the Thomas Cup is held, leading to
the first Uber Cup competition 8 years later.
In year 1966 Badminton was added into the Commonwealth Games in Kingston,
Jamaica, and has been part of the games since then.

In year 1972, Badminton is played as a demonstration sport at the Olympics in

Munich, Germany. Badminton then shortly became a full medal sport at the 1992
Barcelona Olympics in Spain and 4 years later in the Atlanta Olympics, the mixed
doubles was added.

In the 1990’s, Para-badminton started to become competed internationally, with the

first World Championships in Amersfoort, Netherlands in 1998.

21 Century

On October 1,2005, the IBF was relocated to Kuala Lumpur and on September 24,
2006, after the extraordinary general meeting in Madrid, IBF decided to change their
name to Badminton World Federation (BWF). Their official site is
http://www.bwfbadminton.org/
BWF then puts Para-badminton as a priority in the year 2008.

Overview

Badminton is a recreational and competitive game played in singles (two opposing

players) and doubles (two opposing pairs) formats. The aim of the game is to win points
by hitting a shuttlecock across the net and into your opponent's court forcing your
opponent to make an error and be unable to return the shuttlecock back. The lightness of
the racket and the shape of the shuttlecock mean that it is a very fast game requiring
good reactions and speed around the court.

In all competitive games of badminton, a net splits the court in half and each individual
or pair defends their selected area of the court. To successfully play a game, the
following must occur:

 players must serve the shuttlecock over the net so that it lands on the correct side
of the opponent's court

 once the serve has crossed the net (without hitting the net), the opposition must
select the most appropriate shot to return the shuttlecock to either win the point or
gain a tactical advantage

 to win a point, an individual must play a shot that allows the shuttlecock to either
hit the floor of their opponent's court or force their opposition to either not return
the shuttlecock or land it out of bounds

In badminton, points are scored regardless of who is serving.

Badminton players and playing area

Playing area
  A competitive badminton court is a large rectangle marked out with 40 mm wide
lines. The dimensions of the court are of 13.4 m (44 ft) long and 6.1m (20 ft) wide.

 The badminton posts are 1.55 m (5ft 1 in) in height and must remain perfectly
vertical when attached to the strained net. To ensure visibility and safety, the 6.1
m wide net is made from fine dark cord with a mesh of between 15-20 mm.

 Players

 A badminton match can have either two or four players on the court at a given
time.

 In a game of doubles, after a service is

returned, both players are then able to hit
the shuttlecock and are not required to
take it in turns.

 Competitive badminton games have five

different types of matches/events. They
are:

 men's singles

 women's singles

 men's doubles

 women's doubles

 mixed doubles (each team is made up of

a man and a woman)

 However, recreational games see women

playing against men in singles matches.
Wheelchair formats are also offered in all
types of competitive badminton matches.

Badminton scoring, rules and officials

Scoring

In recent years, badminton has changed how

players can score a point. In 2006, the rules
were changed to a rally point system, and this
now allows both players to score a point during
a rally, regardless of who served.

In competitive adult matches, all games are

played to a best of three games. To win a game,
a player must reach 21 points. However, if the
game is tied at 20-20 (or 20-all) then you are
required to win by two clear points. Unlike most
sports, however, if the score becomes 29-29 (or
29-all), the player or team to score the 30th
point will win the game.

Rules

 A match consists of the best of three games of 21 points.

 The player/pair winning a rally adds a point to its score.

 At 20-all, the player/pair which first gains a 2-point lead wins that game.
  At 29-all, the side scoring the 30th point wins that game.

 The player/pair winning a game serves first in the next game.

 A badminton match can be played by two opposing players (singles) or four

opposing players (doubles).

 A competitive match must be played indoors utilizing the official court dimensions.

 A point is scored when the shuttlecock lands inside the opponent's court or if a
returned shuttlecock hits the net or lands outside of the court the player will lose
the point.

 At the start of the rally, the server and receiver stand in diagonally opposite
service courts.

 A legal serve must be hit diagonally over the net and across the court.

 A badminton serve must be hit underarm and below the server's waist height. The
whole of the shuttle should be below 1.15 meters from the surface of the court
when it is hit by the server, with the racquet shaft pointing downwards. The
shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce. After a point is won, the players will move to
the opposite serving stations for the next point.

 The rules do not allow second serves.

 During a point a player can return the shuttlecock from inside and outside of the
court.

 A player is not able to touch the net with any part of their body or racket.

 A player must not deliberately distract their opponent.

 A player is not able to hit the shuttlecock twice.

 A 'let' may be called by the referee if an unforeseen or accidental issue arises.

 A game must include two rest periods. These are a 90-second rest after the first
game and a 5-minute rest after the second game.

Officials

The referee is in overall charge of a badminton tournament or championship(s) of which

a match forms part, to uphold the Laws of Badminton and Competition Regulations in the
BWF Statutes.

Individual singles match requires a total of six officials:

 an umpire who oversees the match, the court and its immediate surroundings

 four-line judges (two for each side of the court positioned at the baseline) who
indicate whether a shuttlecock landed 'in' or 'out' on the line(s) assigned

 a service judge

Doubles matches require a total of eight officials. This is as above but an additional two
line judges are sometimes added (one for each side of the court positioned at the
doubles service line).
EQUIPMENT

RACKET
SHUTTLECOCK
FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS OF BADMINTON