Badminton- Its History, Rules, and Play

The game of Badminton originated thousands of years ago in Asia. The Chinese game, originally called ti jian zi , involved kicking the shuttle back and forth. In the 1600's the game appeared in Europe called jeu de volant, which means shuttlecock. However, they played it with wooden rackets instead of their feet. In the mid-nineteenth century, British officers brought the game back from India. The Duke of Beaufort introduced the game to royalty at his country estate, the Badminton House, which is how the sport got it's name. The Bath Badminton Club was formed in 1877, and the rules they played with are the foundation for today's game. Over the years, the only real changes were in the equipment-lighter wright aluminum, boron, and titanium rackets took the place of the wooden ones. The game soon spread to other countries around the world. The first badminton World Championship games were held in 1977, where the winners of the men and women's tiles were both from Denmark.

Game of Battledore and Shuttlecock in 1804

Cartoon showing early badminton game. Published 18...

English: Badminton shuttlecocks Yonex Aerosensa 20...

Since then, the game has been dominated by people from East Asian nations, where badminton is extremely popular. Badminton was added to the Olympic Games in 1992.

Official rules of badminton state that a badminton court must be rectangular, with white lines marked on the wooden floor. A singles court is 44 feet long and 17 feet wide, while a doubles court is 20 feet wide. The net must be placed in the center, and should be 5 feet in the center and 5 feet 1 inch at the sides. The shuttlecocks used in tournaments weigh 0.2 oz and have 16 goose feathers protruding from a ball-shaped base which is made of cork. However, most people just use plastic birdies instead. The badminton racket should weigh between 3.5 and 5 oz. The racket...