Lesson 1: Brief history of Badminton

Badminton first originated in India during the 18th century where it was
called "Poona". It was played by that name until the 1870's. Our modern day
version of the game came from England. It was introduced by the British Army
officers as an upper class amusement. The English played the game of
Badminton, the Hometown of the Duke of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England.
Hence, the name badminton became the official name of the game.
Records describe the game with wooden paddles and a shuttlecock being
played in Ancient China, on the Royal court of England. In Poland and in India
later in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, a game called "battledore and
shuttlecock", involved hitting a shuttlecock with wooden paddle known as bat or
battledore. The participants were required to keep the shuttle in play as long as
possible. The playing area inside the hall was an hourglass shape narrower at
the middle than the two ends. Badminton was played on this odd shaped court
until 1901. A string was added across the middle of the hall to make a
rudimentary net. The original rules for badminton was standardized in 1887 and
later revised in both 1895 and 1905. These rules still govern the sport today with
minor changes.
NATURE OF THE GAME

Badminton is a racket sport played by either two opposing (singles) or two

opposing pairs (doubles). The teams take positions on o on halves of a court that
is divided by a net. The object of the game is to and hit the shuttlecock or bird
across the net with enough skill and accrue that the opponent cannot return the
shot. In order to score a point, p must strike the shuttlecock with their racket so
that it passes over the ne lands in their opponent's court. The shuttlecock may
only be stuck once by side before it passes over the net and struck the
shuttlecock on the ground end a rally. Players need to employ a wide variety of
strikes in the situations to win in the game. These range from powerful jumping
smashes delicate tumbling net returns. Often rallies finish with a smash, but
setting the smash requires subtler strokes. Deception is also important. Expert
players make the preparation for many different strokes look identical, and use
slicing to deceive their opponents about the speed or direction of the stroke. If
an opponent tries to anticipate the stroke, he may move in the wrong direction
and may be unable to change his body momentum in time to reach the
shuttlecock.
The singles court is narrower than the doubles court, but the same length,
with the exception that a serve in the single can reach the end of the court while
a serve in doubles could not. Since one person needs to cover the entire court,
single tactics are based on facing the opponent to move as much as possible:
this means that singles strokes are normally directed to the corners of the court.
In doubles, both players will try to gain and maintain the attack, smashing
downward when possible. If a pair is forced to lift or clear the shuttlecock, then
they must defend. If a pair cannot hit downwards, they will use flat strokes in
an attempt to gain the attack. Whenever possible, a pair will adopt ideal
attacking information with one player hitting down from the rear court and his
partner in the midcourt intercepting all smash returns except the lift.
Recent Developments

The International Badminton Federation (now known as Badminton World

Federation) was established in 1934 with Canada, Denmark, England, France,
Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales as its founding
members. The BWF now governs international badminton and develops the sport
globally. As of 1993, the BWF has grown to 120 national organizations in as
many countries. Major IBF sanctioned events are the Men's World team
Badminton Championships for Thomas Cup: the Ladies World team
Championships for Uber Cup. The World Individual Championships; World
Mixed Doubles for the Suderman Cup and the World Grand Prix Finals.

Currently, the best players in the world come from China, Europe, Malaysia,
Indonesia and South Korea and dominate competitions on the international level
with China domination in recent years. Indonesian players won both men's and
women's singles at the 1992 Olympics. Indonesians also won four in the five
events in the 1994 World Championships. Badminton is presently the numbers
one sport in Great Britain. The immediate future for both professional and
amateur badminton players appear to be very bright.

The Philippines participates in various tournaments and sends a badminton

team to the Asian games. Badminton is becoming increasingly popular in the
Philippines both for serious ply and casual recreation