Badminton Facts Badminton is a sport played with racquets and a shuttle (or shuttlecock), which is a feathered or plastic projectile. It is played by either two opposing players or teams of two opposing players on a court divided by a net. Badminton's history can be traced to British India in the 1800s, created by British military while stationed there. The International Badminton Federation (now known as the Badminton World Federation) was established in 1934, and today it is responsible for governing international badminton and for globally developing the sport. Traditionally Denmark has dominated the sport in Europe, while worldwide, Asian players dominate, with both Asian women and men being consistently top competitors worldwide.

Interesting Badminton Facts:

The fastest racquet sport in the world is badminton, with shuttlecock speeds reaching more than 200 miles per hour.

Badminton requires a player to have strength, endurance, agility, muscle power, quick reflexes, and speed endurance.

Feathers from the left wing of the goose make the best shuttlecocks. 16 feathers are used to make the shuttlecock and it weighs between 4.74 and 5.5 grams.

The first official badminton club was The Bath Badminton Club, established in 1877.

Badminton was introduced in the United States in the late 19th century and became a popular sport in the 1930s.

The most popular sport in the world is soccer, and the second most popular sport in the world is badminton.

Badminton was first played as a sport in the Olympics in 1992. More than 1.1 billion watched its Olympic debut on television.

The world's largest shuttlecock is 18 feet tall and weighs 2,500kg. It is located on the Kansas City Museum's lawn and is 48 times larger than a real shuttlecock.

70% of all Badminton World Federation events are won by competitors from Indonesia and China.

The longest match was 124 minutes and was played between Sun Jun from China and Peter Rasmussen from Denmark.

The shortest badminton match only lasted for six minutes.

Badminton became an Olympic sport in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics.

During the game the players are not allowed to let the racquet touch the net.

Kim Dong Moon, a Korean player, won two world badminton championships in 1999. He won both doubles and mixed doubles. In 2003 he was honored as the 'Best Player of the Year' award.

Legal serving during the game of badminton is from anywhere below the waist.

Only three countries have ever won the Thomas Cup since the competition was established in 1848. The three countries include China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

There are over 150 member nations that belong to the International Badminton Federation.

Badminton racquets weight between 70 and 95 grams, without including the weight of the strings or grip.

Badminton games can be played as singles, doubles, or mixed doubles.

The 10 rules of badminton are as follows:

1. A game starts with a coin toss. Whoever wins the toss gets to decide whether they would serve or receive first OR what side of the court they want to be on. The side losing the toss shall then exercise the remaining choice.

2. At no time during the game should the player touch the net, with his racquet or his body.

3. The shuttlecock should not be carried on or come to rest on the racquet.

4. A player should not reach over the net to hit the shuttlecock.

5. A serve must carry cross court (diagonally) to be valid.

6. During the serve, a player should not touch any of the lines of the court, until the server strikes the shuttlecock. During the serve the shuttlecock should always be hit from below the waist.

7. A point is added to a player's score as and when he wins a rally.

8. A player wins a rally when he strikes the shuttlecock and it touches the floor of the opponent's side of the court or when the opponent commits a fault. The most common type of fault is when a player fails to hit the shuttlecock over the net or it lands outside the boundary of the court.

9. Each side can strike the shuttlecock only once before it passes over the net. Once hit, a player can't strike the shuttlecock in a new movement or shot.

10. The shuttlecock hitting the ceiling, is counted as a fault.

The BWF regularly organises seven major international badminton events and one event for para-badminton:

·         Olympic Games in co-operation with International Olympic Committee

·         World Championships

·         World Junior Championships

·         Para-Badminton World Championships

·         Thomas Cup

·         Uber Cup

·         Sudirman Cup

·         World Senior Championships ^[6]