Badminton is a racket-and-shuttle game played on a court by two players or doubles teams. The sport takes its name from Badminton House—home of the Duke of Beaufort in the English county of Gloucestershire.
By whom, where and when was Badminton invented?
In 1873, the Duke is credited with bringing a version of the game—Poona—back from India and introducing it to his guests.
The sport quickly grew in popularity, and in 1877, the first set of written rules were devised by the newly formed Bath Badminton Club. The Badminton Federation of England was created 16 years later, and in 1899, it organised the first All England Championships.
What are the rules of badminton?
The exact rules of badminton have changed over time, but the aim is to land the shuttle in-bounds in the opponent's half of the court without the opponent returning it successfully. Matches are currently played to a best-of-three games, with the first to 21 points winning each game. Each player or doubles team must win each game by two clear points, except if a game reaches 29–all, a single sudden-death point is played.
Badminton and the Olympics
Badminton made its debut as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It was not until the 1992 Games in Barcelona that it was officially included on the Olympic programme, with men’s and women’s singles and doubles events. The mixed doubles event made its debut in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Since then, the number of events has remained unchanged.
Best Badminton players to watch
Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) and Chen Yufei (People's Republic of China) were the singles champions at the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020, and continue to be among the best badminton players to watch. Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, Spain, Chinese Taipei, and Singapore have all also produced exciting badminton players to keep an eye on.
Badminton competition rules and event format at Paris 2024
Each of the five events will have a preliminary group phase, before the top 16 singles and top 8 doubles teams qualify for a direct knockout single-elimination bracket to determine the medallists.
