Badminton

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The world's fastest racquet sport: a shuttle can leave the racket at a speed of almost 200 mph.

Origins - Badminton was invented long ago; its origins date back at least two thousand years to the game of battledore and shuttlecock played in ancient Greece, Indian and China.

A surprisingly long history for one of the Olympics newest sports! Badminton took its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the Home of the Duke of Beaufort, where the sport was played in the last century. By coincidence, Gloucestershire is now the base for the International Badminton Federation.

Popularity – There are now over 148 countries represented by the IBF. A 1993 study revealed that more than 1.2 million Americans play badminton at least 25 times a year, 760,000 Americans call badminton their favorite sport, and more than 11.2 million Americans played the sport at least once during the year. Internationally, more than 1.1 billion people watched the 1992 Olympic badminton competition on badminton

Fitness – Badminton is a highly aerobic sport. In a typical two-game match, a player runs about one mile.

The speed and the stamina required for badminton are far greater than for any other racket sport. Competitive badminton is vastly different from the game played by many Americans with friends and relatives in the backyard. In fact, the differences clearly illustrate the difference in the meaning between "game" and "sport".

At the 1985 All England (Tennis) Championships, Boris Beck defeated Kevin Curren 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. At the 1985 World Badminton Championships in Calgary, Canada, Han Jian of China defeated Morten Frost of Denmark 14-18, 15-10,
15-8.

The following is a statistical comparison of those matches.

Time: Tennis, 3 hours and 18 minutes. Badminton 1 hour and 16 minutes
Ball/Shuttle in Play: Tennis, 18 minutes. Badminton, 37 minutes
Match Intensity: Tennis, 9 percent. Badminton 48 percent
Rallies: Tennis 299. Badminton 146
Shots: Tennis, 1,004. Badminton, 1,972
Shots Per Rally: Tennis, 3.4. Badminton, 13.5
Distance Covered: Tennis, 2 miles. Badminton, 4 miles

One look at badminton athletes in action will demonstrate that this form of badminton is truly a sport. Today's players compete in a lightning-fast sport, which demands constant, highly concentrated actions: running, jumping, twisting, stretching, running backwards and striking. Besides explosiveness, quick reflexes and rapid hand-eye coordination, competitive badminton players must also possess superb aerobic endurance. In a typical two-game singles match, top players will cover nearly every inch of the court and travel more than a mile.

Badminton is distinguished from other racquet sports, all of which use a ball of some size, by two features: the use of a shuttlecock and the fact the shuttlecock cannot touch the ground during a rally. The flight characteristics of the shuttlecock and the pace created by constant volleying combine to make badminton one of the most exciting sports to play and watch.

The Simplified Laws of Badminton

Toss
The winner of the toss can elect to serve or receive in the first game, or to choose to play at a particular end of the court. The loser of the toss makes the remaining choice.

Basic Aim
You win a rally if you hit the shuttle over the net and onto the floor of the opposing side's court see court layouts opposite.

You lose the rally if you hit the shuttle into the net, or over the net but outside of the opposing side's court. You also lose the rally if, for example, the shuttle touches you or your clothing, or if you hit it before it crosses the net.

Serving
The service courts are slightly different for singles and doubles. A shuttle on the line is "in". The server and receiver stand in the diagonally opposite service courts (always right hand at the start of the game) but therefore players may move anywhere on their side of the net. The server must obey laws designed to force underhand delivery of the serve, and the receiver must stand still until the service is struck.

Scoring
Matches comprise of the best of three games. Each game starts at 0-0 (traditionally called "love-all"). If the serving side wins a rally, it scores a point, and serves again but from the alternate service court. If the receiving side wins the rally, the score remains unchanged and the service passes to the next player in turn. In singles, this is the opponent: in double it's either the partner or, if both players have just had a turn of serving, one of the opponents.

In men's singles and doubles events, 15 points wins a game. However, if the score reaches 14-14, the side which first reached 14 can choose either to play to 15, or to set the game to 17 points. The final score will reflect the sum of the points won before setting plus the points gained in setting.

Scoring in women's singles is slightly different. 11 points wins a game and there is the option to set to 13 points at 10-10.

And Finally...
Players change ends at the end of a game and when the leading score reaches 8 in a game of 15 points (or 6 in a game of 11 points) in the third game. A five-minute interval is allowed prior to any third game.

http://www.intbadfed.org/
International organization body for Badminton.

http://www.usabadminton.org/
United States organizational body for Badminton.

http://www.badmintoncentral.com/badminton-central/
Worldwide Badminton news digest.

http://www.midwestbadminton.com/
Regional organization body for Badminton. Provides information on the local badminton scene and “where to play” information.