Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with
larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two
players per side). Badminton is often played as a casual outdoor activity in a yard or on a beach; formal games are played
on a rectangular indoor court. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racquet and landing it within the
opposing side's half of the court.
Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. Play ends once the shuttlecock has struck
the floor or if a fault has been called by the umpire, service judge, or (in their absence) the opposing side.
The shuttlecock is a feathered or (in informal matches) plastic projectile which flies differently from the balls used in
many other sports. In particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more
rapidly. Shuttlecocks also have a high top speed compared to the balls in other racquet sports. The flight of the
shuttlecock gives the sport its distinctive nature.
Games employing shuttlecocks have been played for centuries across Eurasia, but the modern game of badminton
developed in the mid-19th century among the British as a variant of the earlier game of battledore and shuttlecock.
("Battledore" was an older term for "racquet".) Its exact origin remains obscure. The name derives from the Duke of
Beaufort's Badminton House in Gloucestershire, but why or when remains unclear. As early as 1860, a London toy dealer
named Isaac Spratt published a booklet entitled Badminton Battledore – A New Game, but no copy is known to have
survived. An 1863 article in The Cornhill Magazine describes badminton as "battledore and shuttlecock p
layed with sides, across a string suspended some five feet from the ground".
The game may have originally developed among expatriate officers in British India, where it was very popular by the
1870s. Ball badminton, a form of the game played with a wool ball instead of a shuttlecock, was being played
in Thanjavur as early as the 1850s and was at first played interchangeably with badminton by the British, the woollen
ball being preferred in windy or wet weather.
Early on, the game was also known as Poona or Poonah after the garrison town of Pune, where it was particularly
popular and where the first rules for the game were drawn up in 1873. By 1875, officers returning home had started a
badminton club in Folkestone. Initially, the sport was played with sides ranging from 1 to 4 players, but it was quickly
established that games between two or four competitors worked the best. The shuttlecocks were coated with India
rubber and, in outdoor play, sometimes weighted with lead. Although the depth of the net was of no consequence, it
was preferred that it should reach the ground.
The sport was played under the Pune rules until 1887, when J. H. E. Hart of the Bath Badminton Club drew up revised
regulations. In 1890, Hart and Bagnel Wild again revised the rules. The Badminton Association of England (BAE)
published these rules in 1893 and officially launched the sport at a house called "Dunbar" in Portsmouth on 13
September. The BAE started the first badminton competition, the All England Open Badminton Championships for
gentlemen's doubles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles, in 1899. Singles competitions were added in 1900 and
an England–Ireland championship match appeared in 1904.
England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand were the founding
members of the International Badminton Federation in 1934, now known as the Badminton World
Federation. India joined as an affiliate in 1936. The BWF now governs international badminton. Although initiated in
England, competitive men's badminton has traditionally been dominated in Europe by Denmark. Worldwide, Asian
nations have become dominant in international competition. China, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and South
Korea are the nations which have consistently produced world-class players in the past few decades, with China being
the greatest force in men's and women's competition recently.
The game has also become a popular backyard sport in the United States 1870’s.
Since 1992, badminton has been a Summer Olympic sport with five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's
doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. At high levels of play, the sport demands excellent fitness: players
require aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed, and precision. It is also a technical sport, requiring good motor
coordination and the development of sophisticated racquet movements.
Basic Badminton Shots

Defensive Shots: Clear Shot and Drive Shot

Clear Shot: With a flick of the wrist and forearm the shuttle is hit high and deep to your opponent’s back court. This shot
forces your opponent to backup and gives you more time to react before your next return.

Drive Shot: This shot is a basic flat shot, in a horizontal trajectory; a powerful, quick counter-attacking shot. The arm
action to execute this shot is like throwing a ball side-armed. Strategically aim at your opponent who’s natural reaction
will be to duck the shot.

Offensive Shots: Drop Shot and Smash Shot

Drop Shot: Hit the shuttle downward, aiming to just clear the net, and land in the opponent’s fore-court. Strategically
used when your opponent is near to the back court. Usually disguised as a smash or clear.

Smash Shot: A shot hit with power and speed, downward to your opponent’s court. Strike the shuttle high above your
head in front of your body.

Forehand Smash – arm action is like throwing a ball.

Backhand Smash -- arm action is like swimming the back crawl.

Basic Badminton Rules

1. The object of the game is to hit the shuttle with your racket so the shuttle goes over the net and lands on the
opponent’s side on the court.
2. Once the shuttle touches the floor the rally is over.
3. You may only hit the shuttle once over before it goes the net.
4. If the shuttle lands on the line, it’s in.
5. Rally Scoring is used. You or the opponent score a point on each serve.
6. If you, your clothing or racket touch the net or the posts, you lose the rally.
7. If the shuttle touches anything but the racket head, you lose the point.
8. Whomever wins a rally scores a point and wins the next serve.
9. A Badminton Match is 2 out of 3 games; played to 21 points; and you must win by 2 points.
10. If the score is tied at 29-29, whomever wins the 30th point wins the game.
11. Any violation of the rules is called a Fault.
12. Serving -- refer to Basic Serving Rule.
Basic Serving Rules

 The shuttle must be hit in an upward motion, with an underhand hitting action.
 The shuttle must be hit below the waist (lowest part of the ribcage).
 The movement of the server’s racket shall continue forwards from the start of the service until the service is
delivered; no shaking the racket back-and-forth behind the shuttle; no stop/start serving.
 Server must stand inside the service court.
 Receiver must stand still and inside the diagonally opposite service court until the shuttle is hit.
 The serve must travel into the diagonally opposite service court.
 In attempting to serve, the server shall not miss the shuttle. There is NO second serve.
 If the serve appears to be going out the receiver should let it fall to the floor.
 If the receiver hits a serve the rally continues even if the serve had been going out.
 The server and receiver must stay inside their service boxes until the server’s racket hits the shuttle. After
contact all players may move anywhere on the court they please.
Singles Serving

1. The right side service court is the EVEN side; the left side service court is the ODD side.
2. The game always starts with the first serve from the right (EVEN) service court.
3. If the server wins the point the server moves and serves from the left (ODD) service court.
4. Whenever you win the serve and your score is EVEN you serve from the right; if your score is ODD you serve
from the left.

Doubles Serving

1. The even/odd rules still hold.

2. Each team chooses who will serve and who will receive.
3. If the serving team wins the rally the same server serves again from the opposite service court. The serve does
NOT alternate between partners. It stays with the same server until the opponents win a rally and get the serve.
4. When you serve and win the rally, the server and his partner swap service courts.
5. The receivers never change sides. The only way receivers change service courts is to win a point when your side
is serving.
6. When the receivers win the rally, they win the serve. They do NOT change service courts from the previous
rally. If their score is ODD the player on the left serves; if their score is EVEN the player on the right serves.

Note: The service courts are set at the start of the rally. Although you move around during the rally, the service courts
don’t change. At the end of the rally, you have to remember what your service courts were:

 Who was serving?

 Who was receiving?
 From which side?
 You never serve to the same person in two consecutive rallies.
 When you win back the serve, the new server is whoever wasn’t serving last time.

Scoring – Rally Scoring is used in Badminton

1. Every time you win a rally, you get a point. Starting from zero, the first person to reach 21 points wins the game.
2. You have to win the game by at least two points. For example, 22–20 would be a winning score, as would 25–
23. But 21–20 would not be enough, and neither would 24–23.
3. If you reach 30–29 you win the game. 30 points is the upper limit.

Where to Hit the Shuttle -- Attacking Strategies

1. Opponent’s position in court upon serve

2. What hand the opponent(s) hold their racket in (2 righties, 2 lefties, or right and left)
3. Which opponent is not paying attention
4. Opponent’s defensive line up (front/back or side by side)
Additional Badminton Strategies
1. Serving: Serve long and high to your opponent's back court. Serve low and shallow to your opponent’s court.
2. Try to hit the shuttle away from your opponent and make your opponent move around the court.
3. Change the speed of your shots.
4. Try to smash straight to your opponent’s body to gain an advantage.
5. Hit the shuttle high towards the back of the court on a return, preferably near the middle of the baseline. Your
opponent will find it difficult to catch you out with acute angled returns from there.
6. Remember -- always to get back to your base position in the midcourt area after making each shot. This is a
position where you can possibly reach any of your opponent's shots.
7. Be flexible -- observe your opponent's strength, weakness, favorite shots and pattern of play. Use it to your
advantage.

DEFINITIONS

 Ace: A serve your opponent fails to touch and return.

 Clear Shot: A high, deep defensive shot to the opponent’s back court.
 Doubles: A match where there are two players on each of the opposing sides.
 Drive Shot: A powerful, quick, flat, counter-attacking defensive shot.
 Drop Shot: An offensive shot designed to just clear the net and land in the opponent’s fore-court.
 Fault: Any violation of the rules.
 Match: The basic contest in Badminton between opposing sides each of one or two players; 2 of 3 games.
 Rally: A sequence of one or more strokes starting with the service, until the shuttle ceases to be in play.
 Receiver: The player that strikes the shuttle second during a rally.
 Receiving side: The side opposing the serving side.
 Server: The player that strikes the shuttle first during a rally.
 Serving side: The side having the right to serve.
 Shuttlecock (Shuttle; Birdie): The projectile (object) hit back and forth during the game of badminton.
 Singles: A match where there is one player on each of the opposing sides.
 Smash Shot: An offensive shot hit with power and speed, downward to your opponent’s court.
 Stroke: A movement of the player’s racket with an intention to hit the shuttle.

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