LESSON 1

HISTORY OF BADMINTON

Introduction

Badminton is fun active sports which is an easy game to practise with few painless rules. It boosts
up your muscles, adds strength to the muscles, improves blood flow rate and the benefits are endless.

Badminton as a sport is comparatively easy, does not acquire an expensive gear or an elaborate
court and can be simply played without getting into much details about the rules of the game. When you
think of the benefits of playing badminton or stumble upon the thought of ‘is badminton good for health’,
you’ll quickly realise that the health benefits of badminton are not restricted to the body but also include
your mind.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, the students will be able to:

A. define the Sport Badminton;
B. trace the origin of Badminton; and
C. acquire knowledge on the history of Badminton

Discussion
History of Badminton?

Although the exact origins of badminton are unclear, games based

on a shuttlecock and a battledore were played in china, Japan, India,
Siam and Greece over 2000 years ago.
Between 1856 and 1859 a game known as ‘battledore and
shuttlecock’ started to evolve into the modern game of badminton at
“Badminton house”, the Duke of Beaufort’s country estate in England.
Similar games were played in Poona India around this time and a
badminton code of conduct was drawn up in 1877. In India they first called
badminton as Poona and in England they called it Battledore.
The aim of battledore and shuttlecock played at “Badminton
house” was to keep the shuttlecock in the air for as long as possible by
hitting the shuttle between two or more people. The reverse is true today.
The aim now is to finish a rally as quickly as possible by scoring winning points against your opponent.
In 1893, the Badminton association of England was formed to administer badminton internationally from
England.
 Badminton made its debut as demonstration sports at
the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It was not
until the 1992 games in Barcelona that it was
officially included in the Olympic programme, with
men’s and women’s singles and doubles event. The
mixed doubles event made its debut in 1996 at the
Atlanta Olympic Games. Since then, the number of
events remain unchanged.
Basic regulations for the sport were formed in 1887,
but it was not until 1893 that the first set of rules
were published in England.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) was

established in 1934 and consisted of nine founding
members – badminton associations from Canada,
Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales.

In 2006 the IBF changed its name to the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The BWF is the world governing body for the sport of badminton, recognised by the International
Olympic committee (IOc).

BWF has more than 170 members. BWF’s members are, with a few exceptions, the national
governing bodies for badminton. These are organised into five confederations under the IOc system, with
each continental confederation representing one of the five Olympic rings – africa, asia, europe, Oceania
and Pan america.

GOVERNING BODY OF BADMINTON

BWF Vision, mission, Goals
The BWF works closely with National Badminton associations and the five continental
confederations for badminton and promotes, presents, develops, and regulates the sport worldwide.
VISION
Badminton is a global sport accessible to all – a leading sport in participation, fan experience and
media coverage.
MISSION
To lead and inspire all stakeholders and deliver world class events and innovative development
initiatives to ensure badminton becomes a leading global sport.
GOALS
The BWF goals are:
• To publish and promote the BWF statutes and its Principles.
• To encourage the formation of new Members, strengthen the bonds between Members
and resolve disputes between Members.
• To control and regulate the game, from an international perspective, in all countries and
continents.
 • To promote and popularise badminton worldwide.
• To support and encourage the development of badminton as a sport for all.
• To organise, conduct and present world class badminton events.
• To maintain an anti-Doping Programme and ensure compliance with the World anti-
Doping agency (WaDa) Code.

Badminton is:
• a net game.
• played on a rectangular court.
• a volleying game, with rallies beginning with an underarm serve.
• a game that has five disciplines – singles (men / women), doubles (men / women and
mixed).

Singles badminton involves serving diagonally into a long, service box. Rallying then continues
on a long court with the border on the first side line.

Doubles badminton involves serving diagonally into a shorter, wider service box than in singles
badminton. After the serve, rallying takes place on the whole court area.

Nature of the Game

 Badminton is played as a singles or doubles game with one or two players on a side. The object
of the game is to hit the shuttlecock or “bird” back and forth with a racket across a net five feet high at its
centre. The bird should be hit with such speed and accuracy that the opponent is unable to return the shot
successfully. The game can either be fast or slow paced, depending on the skill level of the players.

Self-Assessment Questions
Direction: Identify and explain briefly but substantially the corresponding questions.
1. What is the first Governing Body of Badminton?
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2. What year does Badminton originated?
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3. When was badminton first played as a demonstration sport in Olympic Games?
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4. When does badminton changed its governing body to BWF?
________________________________________________
5. What does BWF means?
________________________________________________
6. What was the former name of the game badminton in India?
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7. What is direction of the shuttle when you serve?
________________________________________________
8. How many disciplines does eventing have?
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9. During service which of the badminton category has shorter and wider serving area?
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10. In shorter and longer serving area the players are playing in what badminton category?
_______________________________________________

Assessment 2
1-5. How does badminton being played?
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6-10. Compare and contrast the single and double event of playing badminton. How these events are
differ?
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Assessment 3
What significant events or occurrence happens in history of badminton in the year?
1. 1992
2. 1877
3. May 2006
4. April 1, 1937
5. 1984

References
BWF Schools Badminton Teachers’ Manual- www.badminton.lv
Laws of Badminton –BWF- https://system.bwfbadminton.com