Badminton has its origins in ancient civilizations in Asia and Europe with a game called battledore (bat or paddle) and shuttlecock.
The name ‘Badminton’ comes from a stately home in Gloucestershire, England – home of the Duke of Beaufort.
The contemporary form of the game called ‘Poona’ was played in India in the 1800s. British officers in the mid 1800’s took a form of the game called ‘Poona’ back to England and it was introduced as a game for the guests.
The world governing body, International Badminton Federation (IBF) was formed in 1934 with nine members Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales and now has over 150 member countries.
Badminton is extremely popular in Asia with 15,000 spectators seen at finals of major badminton matches in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Badminton at the top level is extremely physically demanding, requiring strength endurance, muscular power, agility, speed endurance, anaerobic power and a capacity to accelerate / decelerate.
More than 1.1 billion people watched badminton's Olympic debut on TV in 1992.The most successful badminton countries at the top level are China, Korea and Indonesia.
A total of 15 medals were contested at the Athens Olympic Games in badminton across the five disciplines - singles (men, women), doubles (men, women) and mixed doubles.
The Commonwealth Games also has a Teams event for badminton – as well as an Individual knockout competition. Teams are in pools, the initial is a round robin format, and the winners of each pool progress to a knockout competition for the medal placing. Each tie in the Teams Event for the Commonwealth Games consists of one match in each of the five disciplines – singles (men, women), doubles (men, women) and mixed doubles.
The IOCs Olympic Programme Commission Report released after the Athens Games showed badminton to be ranked 11th most watched sport from the TV broadcasts from the Athens Games.
For the Athens TV broadcast, badminton was rated 11th out of 28 sports in terms of Total Viewer Hours and 11th in terms of Prime Time Viewer Hours.
Badminton had its Olympic debut in Barcelona in 1992.
Badminton was introduced to the Commonwealth Games in Kingston Jamaica in 1966.
Australians have won 11 badminton medals at the Commonwealth Games.
A shuttle weighs between 4.74 and 5.50 grams. The highest quality shuttles have a natural cork base covered by thin leather, and 16 goose feathers from the bird's left wing that are held together with thread and glue.
The fastest badminton hit in competition is 417 km/h (259 mph), achieved by Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) in Tokyo, Japan, on 24 September 2017. Lee Chong Wei achieved this record in the Japan Open final against Viktor Axelsen (Denmark).
Badminton Facts
