Badminton History

adminton has a surprisingly long history given its relatively recent introduction onto the Olympic scene. Badminton was invented long ago; its origins date back at least two thousand years to the game of battledore and shuttlecock played in ancient Greece, India and China. Badminton took its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the home of the Duke of Beaufort, where the sport was played in the last century. By coincidence, Gloucestershire is now the base for the International Badminton Federation.

Founded in 1934 with nine members - Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales, membership of the International Badminton Federation has risen steadily. There was a notable increase in new members after badminton's Olympic debut at Barcelona. Development in the sport continues to grow and the current 142 members is expected to increase further.

The first major IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup (world men's team championships) in 1948. Since then, the number of world events has increased with the addition of the Uber Cup (ladies' team), World Championships, Sudirman Cup (mixed team), World Juniors and the World Grand Prix Finals. 1996 saw the last of a highly successful invitational event, the World Cup. Started in 1981 the World Cup was established to provide top players with an opportunity to earn greater levels of prize money. As the World Grand Prix circuit has grown and prize money has increased it was felt that the World Cup had served its purpose.

New competitions are planned including one-off spectaculars and the development of a SuperSeries. It is anticipated that these will attract greater sponsorship, prize money and television. 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 major sponsors.

Badminton has a rich history and its future looks even brighter!

History of Badminton
Bibliography: Sydney Olympics Badminton Page

efore Badminton House, there was poona. Before poona, there was jeu de volant. Before that, battledore and shuttlecock, and, before that, Ti Jian Zi. It's not easy tracking the family lineage of the sport now known as badminton.

As far back as the 5th century BC, the Chinese were playing Ti Jian Zi, or shuttle-kicking, a game played with the feet. The shuttlecock was there, but it remains unclear whether it led to the game of battledore and shuttlecock that arose about five centuries later in China, Japan, India and Greece. The battledores were the early versions of today's racquets. By the 1600s, battledore and shuttlecock had developed into a popular children's game. It soon became a favourite pastime of the noble and leisure classes of many European countries, becoming known as jeu de volant on the Continent.

In India, a game closer to modern badminton, poona, had evolved by the mid-19th century. While British army officers stationed there were learning the game, the Duke of Beauford was introducing it to royal society at his country estate, Badminton House in Gloucestershire, England. Within four years, the Bath Badminton Club had formed, and a new version of the game played there laid the basis for today's rules. The game remained a genteel affair for society's elite until the end of the century. Then, as badminton associations formed in England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and France, a more vigorous game began to spread.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) was born in 1934, with a membership of nine countries ranging from the Netherlands to Canada, and with India, Australia and the United States joining soon after. The Asians were ready and waiting to dominate when the game came back to them. Since 1934, China and Indonesia have won 70 per cent of all IBF titles even with 131 countries now belonging to the federation.

The game reached the Olympic stage as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Munich Games. It returned as an exhibition sport in Seoul in 1988, then was accepted to full medal status in 1992 at Barcelona. By then, it was too late for great players such as China's Li Lingwei and Han Aiping. During the 1980s, they had won six women's World Cups, six Grand Prix singles titles and 63 championships between them. It also was too late for Denmark's legendary Morten Frost, who won more than 70 major men's titles during the '80s, not to mention other great players of the game such as China's Han Jian, Yang Yang, Zhao Jianhua, Xiong Guobao, Indonesia's Icuk Sugiato, Lim Siew King, Malaysia's Misbun Sidek. Nonetheless, they had shown the way for their compatriots. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, China tied for the medal lead as Asian athletes won 14 of the 15 medals. The only non-Asian was another Dane, Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, who shocked the field with a gold medal in men's singles. After all these years, badminton probably is not far removed from its ancient predecessors, nor from the game of elite society in the mid-1800s except for the speed of the game. The fastest smash recorded, by Great Britain's Simon Archer, was clocked at 260 kilometres per hour.

Badminton in the USA

adminton is a familiar and well-liked sport in the US, but predominantly is a fun game in the back yard or on the beach. We know that once Americans see the other badminton - international badminton, the world's fastest racket sport - they will want more. The Atlanta Olympics started to raise the sport's profile in the US. The event was a sell-out and became one of the "must-see" sports. Ex-President Jimmy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, Princess Anne and Paul Newman were among the celebrities who came to watch. David Broder of the Washington Post also came. After seeing the men's doubles finals, he reported: "seeing one of the supreme athletic spectacles of my life".

1996 was a landmark 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. That year there are plans to add a women's event and to increase the prize money still further - a real Christmas present for players and American spectators. The Hongtashan Group has gone on to sponsor the US Open, increasing the prize money.

The rate of change is increasing. Badminton's debut as an Olympic sport has clearly boosted interest internationally. The STAR TV deal has increased the sport's coverage. 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.

Watch out! The world's fastest racket sport is coming. Badminton is coming!

Last Modified: 08/09/2006