Badminton: Then and now

Badminton grew out of game called ‘Poone’, which was popular in India in the 19th century.

Its modern rules were created by an Englishman, John Loraine Baldwin, who named the new sport after Badminton House, where he – and many other visitors – had enjoyed playing a game involving ‘battledores’, shuttlecocks and a net in the Great Hall.

Badminton quickly caught on in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century. Today it is among the world’s most popular sports, both in terms of participation and spectator numbers.

How to play – and win

Badminton is played on a court 13.4 metres (44 feet) long and 5.18m (17ft) wide, divided in half by a net approximately 1.5m (five ft) high.

The object of the game is to hit the shuttlecock over the net and either land it in your opponent’s half of the court, or have them hit it into the net or out of the court.

A match is the best of three games, played to 21 points.

Badminton at the Games

Badminton first appeared at the Games as a demonstration event in Munich 1972. It became a full medal sport 20 years later, at the Barcelona 1992 Games.

Badminton is still most popular in its traditional heartlands of Europe and Asia. Indonesia, Korea and China are the dominant forces in the sport.

Facts about Badminton

• The best shuttlecocks are said to be made from the feathers of a goose’s left wing.
• A shuttlecock can travel at speeds of 200 miles per hour.
  An estimated 1.1bn people watched the first Olympic Badminton tournament on TV.
• The world’s largest shuttlecock can be found at the Kansas City Museum. It is 48 times the size of those used at the Olympic Games.
• Tian Zian Ji (or ‘Shuttlekick’) was a version of Badminton played with the feet in 5th century China.

Jargon buster

• Kill: An un-returnable shot, hit straight down into the opponent’s court.
• Sling: An illegal shot, in which the shuttlecock is not hit, but caught and held on the racket before being released.
• Drive: A fast, low shot that crosses the net at a horizontal angle.
• Smash: A hard overhead shot, hit straight down into the opponent’s court.
• Lift: A shot played from beneath the height of the net, normally played high to the back of the court.
• Slice: Normally an overhead shot which hits across the feathers of the shuttle, to bring the shuttle down at a steeper angle and to add deception.

Get involved

There are more than 2,200 clubs and 100 local leagues connected to Badminton England, the sport’s National Governing Body. To find your nearest place to play, see 'related websites'.