Badminton is a old game since ancient times an early form of the sport was played in ancient Greece. The related game Hanetsuki was played in Japan before 16th century. In the west side, badminton came from a game called battledore and shuttlecock, in which two or more players keep a feathered shuttlecock in the air with small racquets.
The modern form of Badminton however can be traced to India, where British
military officers stationed there in the late 19th century became interested in a similar local game which was known to them as Poona. This game was taken back to England where the rules of badminton were set out. Another early version of the game was recorded in the 1850s in the southern Indian city of Tanjore, called pooppanthu vilayattam in which balls made of wool and cardboard were used in the place of the modern day shuttlecock.
The modern form of Badminton however can be traced to India, where British military officers stationed there in the late 19th century became interested in a similar local game which was known to them as Poona. This game was taken back to England where the rules of badminton were set out. Another early version of the game was recorded in the 1850s in the southern Indian city of Tanjore, called pooppanthu vilayattam in which balls made of wool and cardboard were used in the place of the modern day shuttlecock.
In 1873 at the Badminton House, Gloucestershire, owned by the Duke of Beaufort. At that time, the game was named as "The Game of Badminton," and the game's official name became Badminton.
Up to 1887, the sport was played in England under the rules that prevailed in India. The Bath Badminton Club standardized the rules and made the game applicable to English ideas. The basic regulations were drawn up in 1887. Badminton Association of England published the first set of rules in 1893 and according to these regulations, similar to today's rules, and officially launched badminton in a house called "Dunbar" at 6 Waverley Grove, Portsmouth, England on September 13 of 1893. They also started the All England Open Badminton Championships, and in 1899 the first badminton competition in the world was held.
The International Badminton Federation (IBF) and now it is called as Badminton World Federation (BWF) was established in 1934 with Canada, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales as its founding members. India joined as an affiliate in 1936. As it is a sport it develop gradually and presently it has 130 members and expected to increase further.
The first major IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup (world men's team championships) in 1948. The World Cup invitational event started in 1981 and is organized by the International Management Group (IMG). The World Cup series is due to end in 1997 and the IBF is considering organizing exhibition matches featuring the world's top players to replace the World Cup.
IBF's relationship with IMG started with the organization of the World Cup but has developed to include the sale of commercial and television rights at many IBF events. In these days of mass communications, the importance of television to a world sport is self-evident. Television brings the action, the excitement, the explosive power of badminton into homes around the world. It pulls in the crowd to see the action live it pulls in the big guys in the sponsorship league.
The next phase in the rise and rise of international badminton has been to retake the USA. The US was an early member of the IBF and initially one of the most successful. When the Uber Cup was introduced in 1956, Americans won the first three events. But then interest died out.
1996 was a watershed in American badminton. It's not only the Atlanta Olympic Games that started to generate massive interest in the American market. In December 1995 the IBF introduced a brand new tournament in California, the Hong Ta Shan Cup a men's invitational event with top players and big prize money.
The rate of change is increasing. Badminton's debut as an Olympic sport has clearly boosted interest internationally. Sponsors and television companies are increasingly attracted to a sport which gives them access to the Asian economies. And, spectators are increasingly attracted to the "enthralling mix of angles, tactics, reaction, touch and fitness that would exhaust a squash champion”.
Playing Court Dimensions
The court is rectangular and divided into halves by a net. Courts are usually marked for both singles and doubles play, although the laws permit a court to be marked for singles only. The doubles court is wider than the singles court, but both are the same length. The exception, which often causes confusion to newer players, is that the doubles court has a shorter serve-length dimension.
The full width of the court is 6.1 metres (20 ft), and in singles this width is reduced to 5.18 metres (17 ft). The full length of the court is 13.4 metres (44 ft). The service courts are marked by a centre line dividing the width of the court, by a short service line at a distance of 1.98 metres (6.5 ft) from the net, and by the outer side and back boundaries. In doubles, the service court is also marked by a long service line, which is 0.78 metres (2 ft 6 inch) from the back boundary.
The net is 1.55 metres (5 ft 1 inch) high at the edges and 1.524 metres (5 ft) high in the centre. The net posts are placed over the doubles sidelines, even when singles is played.
There is no mention in the Laws of Badminton of a minimum height for the ceiling above the court. Nonetheless, a badminton court will not be suitable if the ceiling is likely to be hit on a high serve.
