Sports Notes for SSB Interview: Badminton

Shuttlecocks can reach speeds in excess of 300 kph, making Badminton, the fastest racket sport in the world. The history of Badminton goes back as far as 2000 years ago. The oldest evidence suggested that the first shuttlecock game was played around the 5th century BC. Players used their feet to hit the shuttlecock instead of a racket. Badminton has a cosmopolitan history. The rules of the modern game were developed in England, but it is now Asian countries that dominate the sport.

History of the Game:

• Several forms of the game were played in the ancient and medieval world with varied names such as jeu de Volant, battledore, shuttlecock, and Ti Jian Z.
• During the 19th century, British military officers in the Indian town of Poona added a net to the ancient game of battledore (meaning ''bat'') and shuttlecock and named this new game after the Indian town.
• The sport of Poona was eventually brought back to England by the officers and was played at the Duke of Beaufort's's Gloucestershire residence in 1873.

• The Bath Badminton Club developed the first written rules for the sport in 1877.
• World's first badminton organization, the New York Badminton Club was founded in 1888.
• In 1898, the first unofficial All-England Badminton Championship for men was organised.
• Eventually, the International Badminton Federation, a body to regulate and organizes Badminton tournaments throughout the world was established on 5 July 1934.
• The IBF organized its first tournament, Thomas Cup in 1948.
• Badminton became part of the Commonwealth Games in 1966.
• Badminton was included as an Olympic sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games with four events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles. Mixed doubles were included in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
• Only six countries have won gold medals at the Olympics since Badminton was introduced in 1992 - China, Indonesia and Korea, England, Denmark and Spain.

Lee Chong Wei, Lin Dan, Taufik Hidayat, Rudy Hartono

Prominent Badminton Players (Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Li Xuerui, Ratchanok Intanon,
 Carolina Marin, Wang Yihan, Nozomi Okuhara, Gao Ling and Tai Tzu-Ying)

• Gao Ling holds the record for the most number of medals won by a badminton player at the Olympics (2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze).
• Lee Chong Wei has won the most Superseries titles (46) in men's singles.
• China has won the most Olympics medals in Badminton (41). The next best are Indonesia and South Korea (19).

Ground Dimensions:

• The Badminton court is rectangular in shape and is divided into halves by a net.
• The doubles court is wider than the singles court, but both are of the same length.
• 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).

2.1 Dimensions of the Net:

• 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.

Rules of the Game:

1. Badminton scoring system:

• All singles and doubles matches are the best-of-three games.
• The first side to score 21 points wins the game.
  • A point is won if the shuttlecock hits the ground in the opponent's half of the court, including the lines.
  • A point is scored on every serve and awarded to whichever side wins the rally. The winning side gets the next serve.
• If the score is 20-20, a side must win by two consecutive points to win the game. If it reaches 29-29, the first to get their 30th point wins.
• The side winning a game serves first in the next game.

2. Interval and Change of Ends:

• When the leading score reaches 11 points, players have a 60-second interval.
• A 2-minute interval between each game is allowed.
• In the third game, players change ends when the leading score reaches 11 points.

3. Serve:

• The shuttlecock must be hit below waist height, with players serving diagonally into their opponent's service box.
• Both players must remain stationary until the service is made.

Singles:

• The player starting the game (hitting the first serve) starts from the right service court.
• When the server's score is even, the server serves from the right service court. When the server's score is odd, the server serves from the left service court.
  • For example, if the player has 2 points, he will serve from the right box of his court, and if she/he has 11 points, she/he will serve from the left box of his court.
• If the server wins a rally, the server scores a point and then serves again from the alternate service court.
• If the receiver wins a rally, the receiver scores a point and becomes the new server.
• They serve from the appropriate service court – left if their score is odd, and right if it is even.

Doubles:

• A Badminton Doubles match consists of 4 players divided into two teams of two players each.
• Doubles matches are of three types: Men's doubles (all male players), Women's doubles (all women players) and Mixed doubles (one male and one female player in each team).

• A side has only one' ' service',' and the service passes consecutively to the players.
• At the beginning of the game and when the score is even, the server serves from the right service court. When it is odd, the server serves from the left court.
• If the serving side wins a rally, the serving side scores a point and the same server serves again from the alternate service court.
• If the receiving side wins a rally, the receiving side scores a point. The receiving side becomes the new serving side.
• The players do not change their respective service courts until they win a point when their side is serving.

Equipment:

Badminton is played with a stringed racket and a shuttlecock. The conical part of the shuttlecock is formed from sixteen overlapping feathers embedded into a rounded cork base.    The player should always hit the rubber base and not the feathered part.

1. Racket:

• The racket shall be a frame not exceeding 680 mm in overall length and 230 mm in overall width consisting of Handle, stringed area, head, shaft and throat as illustrated in the diagram below.

• The Handle is the part of the racket intended to be gripped by a player.
• The stringed area is the part of the racket with which it is intended that a player hits the shuttle. The stringed area shall not exceed 280 mm in overall length and 220 mm in overall width.
• The head bounds the stringed area.
• The shaft connects the Handle to the head, and the throat (if present) connects the shaft to the head.

2. Shuttle:

• The shuttle shall be made of natural and / or synthetic materials.
• The shuttle shall have 16 feathers fixed in the base.
• The feathers shall have a uniform length between 62 mm to 70 mm when measured from the tip to the top of the base.
• The tips of the feathers shall lie on a circle with a diameter from 58 mm to 68 mm.
• The feathers shall be fastened firmly with thread or other suitable material.
• The base shall be 25 mm to 28 mm in diameter and rounded on the bottom.
• The shuttle shall weigh from 4.74 to 5.50 grams.
• Players can ask to change the shuttle in the course of the match, but can only do so if the umpire and opponent agree.

Terms Associated with Badminton:

1. Court:

• Alley, Back Alley, Base Position, Baseline, Center Line, Center Position, Divorce Area, Forecourt, Long Service Line, Service Court, Short Service Line, Side Alley, T (T-Junction), Tape, Test Mark, Tramline

2. Equipment:

• Balance Point, Battledore, Bird (Birdie), Cross, Face, Feathers, Four-Knot Stringing, Graphite, Grip, Grommet, Gut, Head, High Modulus, Hybrid Stringing, Main, One-Piece Racket, One-Piece Stringing, Press, Pre-stretch, Racket (Racquet), Rough Side, Shaft, Shuttle (Shuttlecock), Skirt, Smooth Side, Tension, Two Knot Stringing, T-Joint, Throat, Towel Grip, Trim

3. Play:

• The angle of Attack, Angle Of Return, Attack, Back and Front, "Bird On", "Clear", Deception, Doubles, First Serve, Fixed-Height Serve, Footwork, Free Point, Front and Back, Game Point, Hand In, Hand Out, Level Doubles, Match Point, Mixed Doubles, Offense, Patty-Cakes, Placement, Rally, Receiving Side, Rotation, Second Serve, Serving Side, "Set", Setup, Side by Side, Split Step, Unforced Error, Touch, Up.

4. Shots:

• Ace, Air-Shot, Attacking Clear, Kill, Backhand, Block, Carry, Clear, Closed Face, Cross Court, Cut (Slice), Cut Drop, Dab, Danish Wipe, Defensive Clear, Double Hit, Drive, Drive Serve,  Drop, Drop Serve, Flick, Flick Serve, Forehand, Hairpin, Halfcourt Shot, Holding a Shot, Jump Smash, Lift, Lob, Long Serve, Net Shot, Offensive Clear, Open Face, Passing Shot, Pop-Up, Push Shot, Round-The-Head, Serve, Short Serve, Smash, Slice (Cut), Sling, Toss Serve, Wood Shot

General:

• Backhand Grip, Balk, Dead Bird, Fault, Feint, Flexible Wrist, Flight, Follow-Through, Foot Fault, Forward Swing, Frying Pan Grip, Hammer Grip, Home, Let, Locked Wrist, Love (Luv), Lunge, Match, On-Guard Stance, Poaching, Rush A Serve, Setting, Stance, Straight Games, Thumb-Up Grip, Tipping, Turnover, Waist

Governing bodies:

• The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the internationally recognized governing body of the sport responsible for conduction of tournaments and approaching fair play.
• The International Badminton Federation was formed in 1934 with nine founder members, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, Holland, Canada, New Zealand and France. India joined as an affiliate in 1936.
• On 24 September 2006, its new name Badminton World Federation (BWF) was adopted.
• Headquarters of BWF: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Five regional confederations are associated with the BWF:
  • Asia: Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC)
  • Africa: Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA)
  • Americas: Badminton Pan Am (North America and South America belong to the same confederation; BPA)
  • Europe: Badminton Europe (BE)
  • Oceania: Badminton Oceania (BO)

International tournaments:

• World Championships
• World Junior Championships
• Para-Badminton World Championships
• BWF Men's World Team Championships (Thomas Cup)
• BWF Women's World Team Championships (Uber Cup)
• BWF World Team Championships (Sudirman Cup)
• BWF World Junior Team Championships (Suhandinata Cup)
• BWF World Tour Finals
• Super 1000 Tournaments:
  • All England Open
  • China Open
  • Indonesia Open
• Super 750 Tournaments:
  • Denmark Open
  • Fuzhou China Open
  • Japan Open
  • French Open
  • Malaysia Open
• Super 500 Tournaments:
  • Hong Kong Open
  • India Open
  • Indonesia Masters
  • Korea Open
  • Malaysia Masters
  • Singapore Open
  • Thailand Open
• Super 300 Tournaments:
  • Australian Open
  • Taipei Open
  • German Open
  • Korea Masters
  • Macau Open
  • New Zealand Open
  • Spain Masters
  • Swiss Open
  • Syed Modi International
  • Thailand Masters
  • US Open

Badminton in India:

• Badminton in India has become the second most popular sports after Cricket.
• The modern version of the Badminton had its origins in Poona, from where it travelled to England.

Badminton is played by British Officers in India

• The Badminton Association of India was formed in 1934.
• Dipankar Bhattacharya was the first badminton player from India to have participated in the Olympics.
• Prakash Padukone was the first Indian Badminton player to achieve the world no. 1 ranking.
• Saina Nehwal became the first female player from India to achieve World no. 1 spot in April 2015.
• The Indian Badminton team has won:
  • 2 Olympic medals (1 Silver and 1 Bronze)

• 9 BWF World Championship medals (1 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 Bronze)

• 10 Asian Games medals (1Silver, 9 Bronze)
• 25 Commonwealth Games medals (7 Gold, 6 Silver and 12 Bronze)
• Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand are the only two Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championship.
  • Prakash Padukone won the tournament in 1980.
  • Pullela Gopichand won the tournament in 2001.

National Tournaments of India:

• All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament (Men & Women)
• India International Series
• Krishna Khaitan All India Junior Ranking Tournament
• V. Natu Memorial All India Senior Ranking Tournament
• Radhey Shyam Gupta Memorial All India Senior Ranking Tournament
• Nationals

Prominent Indian Badminton Players:

• Women: Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Jwala Gutta, Aparna Popat, Ashwini Ponnappa, and N. Sikki Reddy
• Men: Nandu Natekar, Prakash Padukone, Pullela Gopichand, Syed Modi, U Vimal Kumar, Sanave Thomas, Kidambi Srikanth, Chetan Anand, Parupalli Kashyap, B. Sai Praneeth, Prannoy HS, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Valiyaveetil Diju.

PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (from left to right)

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in action at 2012 London Olympics

Pullela Gopichand and Prakash Padukone with PBL Trophy

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