Badminton

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Badminton

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Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles). Each player or pair takes position on each ends of a rectangular court with floor markings to play a match.

The object of the game is to hit a shuttlecock (normally shortened to "shuttle" or "cock"; more colloquially, "bird" or "birdie"), using a racquet, over the net onto the court within the marked boundaries before the opposing player or pair can hit it back. Each server is awarded one point for the player or pair who wins the rally. The player or pair who reach 21 points first (if no tiebreak) will win the game, and a match winner is decided if they win 2 of 3 games.

General Description

Players at opposite ends of the court aim to hit a shuttlecock, more informally called a shuttle, bird or birdie, over the net so that it lands inside the marked boundaries of the court, and aim to prevent their opponents from doing the same. Unlike a tennis ball, the shuttlecock flies with a lot of drag, and will not bounce significantly. The shuttlecock is always volleyed, and a rally ends as soon as it touches the ground. Shuttles are made either from feathers or nylon. Badminton racquets have long shafts, to make it easier to impart a great deal of momentum to overcome the drag. The racquets are also much lighter than tennis racquets, because the shuttlecock is light. Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world with shuttles reaching speeds of up to 200 mph. BBC Sport - Beginner's guide to badminton Simon Archer set the shuttlecock speed in the Guinness World Records of 162 mph In 1997. How to... Hit a shuttlecock at 162mph by Simon Archer Badminton champion Fu Haifeng of China set the official world smash record on June 3, 2005 in Sudirman Cup with the speed measured at 332 km/h or 206 mph, faster than the Eurostar train. Kenneth Jonassen recorded the fastest smash in singles competition at 298 km/h (185 mph). Badminton stakes claim as fastest racquet sport.

Badminton is often compared to tennis. The rallies of each point tend to be much longer in badminton than in tennis. The game can be physically more tiring than tennis as the time between shots can be much longer. When a shot is played in tennis the whole of the arm is used in one sweeping action, whereas in badminton a wide range of motions is employed, from delicate flicks of wrist and pressing of fingers to full-body smashes and clears. Speed, reaction, and endurance are all important to being a successful badminton player. From a fitness perspective a close comparison can be made to squash which also has the same explosive starts.

There are typically five events in the badminton: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles (each pair is composed of a man and a woman). There are different tactics for singles and doubles.

History and development

Although no one really knows who invented badminton, it is widely believed to have originated in ancient Greece about 2000 years ago. From there it spread to China, India, Japan and Siam (now Thailand). Battledore and Shuttlecock - The Online Guide to Traditional Games An early ancestor of the game may have been the Chinese game of jianzi which involves using a shuttlecock but no racquet. Instead the object was manipulated with the feet. The object of the game is to keep the shuttlecock from touching the ground as long as possible without using the hands.

In England since medieval times a children's game called Battledores and Shuttlecocks was popular. Children would use paddles (Battledores) and work together to keep the Shuttlecock up in the air and prevent it from reaching the ground. It was popular enough to be a nuisance on the street of London in 1854 when the magazine Punch published the cartoon.

In the 1860s, British Army officers in Pune, India, began playing the game of battledore and shuttlecock, but they added a competitive element by including a net and badminton was invented. As the city of Pune was formerly known as Poona, the game was known as Poona at that time.

About this same time, the Duke of Beaufort was entertaining soldiers at his estate called ‘Badminton House’, where the soldiers played Poona. The Duke of Beaufort’s non-military guests began referring to the game as ‘the badminton game’, and thus the game became known as "badminton".

In 1877, the first badminton club in the world, Bath Badminton ClubHistorical Development of the Game in the World, transcribed the rules of badminton for the first time. However in 1893, the Badminton Association of England published a set of new rules, similar to that of today, and officially launched badminton in a large house called Dunbar in Waverley Grove, Portsmouth, at September 13. History of Badminton - Founding of the BAE and Codification of the Rules They also started the All England Open Badminton Championships, the first badminton competition in the world, in 1899.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) was established in 1934 with Canada, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales as its founding members. India joined as an affiliate in 1936. It purpose is to take over the management of badminton and develop the sport globally. The history of Badminton

Today, 152 nations around the world are IBF members and over 100 tournaments are held every year. The IBF also has two training centres in Sofia and Saarbrücken. International Badminton Federation - Official website Unlike soccer, there are no restrictions on migration; players may represent any country, regardless of any previous commitments. Therefore, many unpopular players from China and Indonesia have migrated to countries in which badminton is not so popular to get regular places.

Scoring system development

The traditional scoring system in badminton history involves 15 points. In this system, only the player or pair currently serving can score a point. If the non-serving team wins the rally, no point is scored, but the service simply goes back to their side.

In singles, players start serving based on their points. If the point is an odd number, they will serve in the left of the ends and the reverse if the number is even. In doubles, there are two services in a row for each pair (except the first service of the game), turns are taken serving before the serve switches back to their opponents. The player on the right of the ends serving side always begins the serving. The first side to reach 15 points (or 11 for women's singles) is the winner.

In 1992, IBF introduced new rules: setting at 13-all and 14-all. That mean if the player or pair tie at 13-13 or 14-14 (9-9 or 10-10 for women's singles), the player or pair to reach that score first can decide whether to play to 17 (or to 13 for the women) or called "setting". The player or pair to win 2 games first is declares as the match winner. The Laws of the Badminton - 15 X 3 scoring system There are 5 minutes intervals between the second and third games.

This system was in use until 2002, but the IBF felt that the match time was too long and not entertaining. Also to commercialize the sport, they decided to change to a 5 games, 7 points scoring system. There are only slight changes in this system, the scoring is shortened to 7 points but 5 sets are played. The rules are still same as the traditional 15 points system. The game can be "setting" when the score is 6-6 to play until 8. In this sytem, the player or pair who wins 3 games first is declared as the match winner. Players or pairs can rest upto 90 seconds if allowed by the umpire. The Laws of the Badminton - 5 X 7 scoring system

Once again the match time became a big issue, as the playing time for 5 games 7 points scoring system is almost equal to the traditional scoring system. This system was abandoned later and replaced by modified traditional scoring system, except mixed doubles which play in 3 games 11 points (later also replaced by traditional scoring system). Commonwealth Games became the last event to played in this system. They is a slight adjustment, only setting at 14-all if the games tie at 14-14 (women's singles is 10-all).

In December 2005 the IBF started an experimental scoring system for IBF events with their goal to shorten the playing time, the first to do so was the World Cup in China. The new system incorporates rally point scoring; every serves allocates points. Under the new system games are played to 21 points. A difference of 2 points is needed if the game is setting at 20-all, up until 29-29, the first player or pair to reach 30 wins. In doubles there is no second server anymore under the new system. When the serving pair loses a rally the serve passes immediately to the opponent. The pair will serve the shuttlecock like singles rules which base to their points. Pairs only switch service courts when they win a point while serving.

Besides the new scoring system the experiment also involves a rule change concerning breaks during a match. When a side reaches 11 points, both sides get a 60 second break. Between the first and second game, as well as between second and third game, players receive a 2 minute break.

The experiment ended in May 2006, and the IBF General Meeting has decided that the rules of the experiment will become permanent as of August 2006. BBC Sport - Laws of Badminton

The Laws of the Game

Playing court

Badminton courts have different dimensions for different modes of play and the courts are always in the shape of an oblong. For doubles, this is 6.10 metres (20 feet) wide by 13.40 metres (44 feet) long. This is reduced to 11.88 metres (39 feet) long, or an area of 0.762 metres (2.5 feet) inside the back boundary line, when a pair serves the shuttle. For singles competitions, the width of the court is set to 5.18 metres (17 feet) but the length remains the same. In the middle of the court there is a net, which is 1.55 metres (5 feet) high. The short service lines, which delimit the area from which players can serve, are located 1.98 meters (6 feet, 6 inch) away from the net. The centre line divides the left and right service courts. Usually, the lines marking the court are white. SportsKnowHow.com - Badminton Court Dimensions

Equipment