Badminton

Badminton is a lightweight racquet and shuttlecock game played on a court or on a grass. The shuttlecock (also known as a “bird” or “birdie”) was a small cork globe with 16 goose feathers attached that weighed around 0.17 ounce in the past (5 grams). These shuttles may still be used in current play, however the Badminton World Federation also allows shuttles constructed of synthetic materials. Badminton, the rural seat of the Dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England, is where the game was originally played in 1873. The sport’s origins may be traced back to ancient Greece, China, and India, and it’s related to the old children’s games battledore and shuttlecock. Badminton is a direct descendant of poona, a game popularised in the 1860s by British army soldiers stationed in India. In 1899, the first unofficial all-England men’s badminton championships were held, followed by the inaugural women’s badminton event the following year.

Badminton is a sport that is played indoors.

A singles match (one player per side) is played on a rectangular court measuring 44 feet x 17 feet (13.4 x 5.18 metres) and a doubles match is played on a rectangle court measuring 44 feet x 20 feet (13.4 x 6.1 metres) (two players per side).

The net is approximately 5 feet (1.5 metres) long and spans the centre of the court.

For both singles and doubles, the court is separated on either side by a service line that runs six feet six inches (1.98 metres) from the net, with an additional long service line running two feet six inches from the back boundary.

An addition line, perpendicular to the net that splits the rear section of the court into service courts, extends from the service line to the back boundary line.

• Badminton is played with a set of equipment called a shuttlecock.
• The game is played with a shuttlecock, often known as a birdie, and each participant has a racket.
• The birdie is formed like a cone and travels through the air considerably more slowly than a ball.

Scoring

• Regardless of who is serving, a point is scored when the birdie lands in the opponent’s side of the court.
• The game is won by the first side to reach 21 points. The winning team, however, must win by two points.
• In the event of a tie (20 points each), the winning team is the first to score two additional points.
• The victor is the first team to reach 30 points, regardless of the opposing team’s score.
• The match is won by the first team to win two out of three games.

The Fundamentals of Badminton

• At no moment is a player allowed to contact the net with their body or racket.
  The birdie must not fall to the ground.
  At no point should the birdie come to rest on a player’s racket.
  The birdie must not land outside the court’s boundary lines.
  The birdie must not fall through the ceiling.
  The birdie should be hit from below the waist in an underhand motion when serving.
  Before the server hits the birdie, the receiving team shall not touch the lines on the court.

The Situation

• The game of badminton starts with a coin flip.
• The team that correctly predicts heads or tails gets to serve first, or the other team gets to serve first.
• Regardless of whether it is a singles or doubles match, the player who serves must land the birdie inside the service court opposite of where he or she is standing.
• If the score is odd, as it is on the opening serve of the game, the server stands in his or her left service court and serves into the left service court of their opponent, which is directly opposite.