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Service Rules

Badminton - The worlds fastest racquet sport

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Tennis v. Badminton

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Badminton-Wikipedia

Badminton Information.com
   

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 (IBF).

Badminton has a rich history in the United States. The first badminton club in this country, the Badminton Club of New York, was formed in 1878 and became a weekend meeting place for New York’s society leaders. Badminton’s popularity boomed in the 1930s as educational institutions, YMCAs, and hundreds of newly formed clubs offered badminton instruction. Also spurring the sport’s popularity in the 1930s was the avid play by several Hollywood personalities including James Cagney, Bette Davis, Boris Karloff, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford, and Douglas Fairbanks.

The American Badminton Association was organized in 1936 (changed to USBA in 1978), when Donald Wilbur, Robert McMillan, and twins Donald and Phillip Richardson, all of Brookline, Massachusetts, decided to unite the nation’s various badminton groups. Programs from New York, Massachusetts, Chicago, and the West Coast came together to form one voice and standardize rules and regulations of the game. The ABA held its first National Championships in 1937, and became a member of the International Badminton Federation (IBF) in 1938.

The year 1949 brought the United States its first world champions as David Freeman of Pasadena, California, won men’s singles at the prestigious All-England Championships (considered the unofficial world championships until 1977 when World Championships were instituted). Americans Clinton and Patsy Stevens won the All-England mixed doubles title the same year.

The United States’ international success continued. Between 1949 and 1967, the United States won 23 world individual championships (one men’s singles, 12 women’s singles, one men’s doubles, eight women’s doubles, and one mixed doubles) and three women’s world team championships. The U.S. men’s team was also world runner-up during this period. Sports Illustrated acknowledged the United States’ badminton success by featuring top male player Joe Alston on the cover of its March 7, 1955 issue.

The number of U.S. clubs declined slightly in the 1970s; however, high school and collegiate play expanded.

Nearly 2,700 members belong to the USBA (as of September 1995). The USBA estimates there are thousands more recreational badminton players in the United States. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) reports in its 1993 study that 300,000 people play badminton weekly in the United States, and 760,000 people call badminton their favorite sport.

The USBA in 1991 moved its National Office from Papillion, Nebraska, to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Currently the USBA has six staff members, including two national coaches. The USBA's mission is to serve as the national governing body of the sport, to increase participation in the sport, to provide the highest possible quality of service to its members, and to achieve outstanding performance in international competition.

The USBA solidified its commitment to improve international performance by forming the Olympic Player Development Committee in 1993. The USBA High Performance Plan, drafted in April 1994, is a detailed, comprehensive plan to achieve Olympic medals by the 2004 Games. Integral parts of that plan include establishing a resident training program at the Olympic Training Center and acquiring a fulltime internationally recognized National Coach -- both of which the USBA accomplished in 1994.

In accordance with this mission, the USBA sends players to the World Championships, Sudirman Cup (world mixed team championship), Thomas Cup and Uber Cup (world men's and women's team championships, respectively), World Junior Championships, and Pan American Games. Major U.S. competitions conducted by the USBA include the annual U.S. National Championships, U.S. Junior National Championships, and U.S. Senior National Championships, and the U.S. Open.

The USBA’s goals leading up to 1996 and beyond reflect its commitment to supporting U.S. badminton athletes in their quest for increased international success.

Badminton Service Rules
It's stated in the Badminton Service Rules that both you and your opponent shall not cause undue delays in delivering the service once respective positions have been taken up.
You and your opponent shall stand within diagonally opposite service courts without touching the boundary lines of these service courts.

Some part of both feet of you and your opponent must remain in contact with the surface of the court in a stationary position from the start of the service until the service is delivered.

Your racket shall initially hit the base of the shuttle. The whole shuttle shall be below your waist as you hit it with the racket.

The shaft or your racket at the instant of hitting the shuttle shall be pointing in a downward direction to such an extent that the whole of the head of the racket is discernibly below the whole of your hand holding the racket.

The diagram below illustrates this point clearly.
The movement of your racket must continue forward after the start of the service until the service is delivered.

The flight of the shuttle shall be upwards from your racket to pass over the net so that, if not intercepted, it lands in your opponent's court (on or within the boundary lines).

It is a 'fault' if you miss the shuttle while attempting to serve. Once you have taken your position, the first movement of your racket head is deemed to be the start of your service.

You shall not serve before your opponent is ready but if a return is attempted, your opponent shall be deemed as ready.

In doubles, your partner may take up any positions which do not unsight your opposing server or receiver.

Make sure you remember this Badminton Service Rules and not lose points due to it...
 

 

 

Badminton - The world's fastest racquet sport: a shuttle can leave the racket at a speed of almost 200 mph.

Competitive badminton is vastly different from the game played by many Americans with friends and relatives in the backyard. In fact, the differences clearly illustrate the difference in the meaning between "game" and "sport".

One look at badminton athletes in action will demonstrate that this form of badminton is truly a sport. Today's players compete in a lightning-fast sport which demands constant, highly concentrated actions: running, jumping, twisting, stretching, running backwards and striking. Besides explosiveness, quick reflexes and rapid hand-eye coordination, competitive badminton players must also possess superb aerobic endurance. In a typical two-game singles match, top players will cover nearly every inch of the court and travel more than a mile.

Badminton is distinguished from other racquet sports, all of which use a ball of some size, by two features: the use of a shuttlecock and the fact the shuttlecock cannot touch the ground during a rally. The flight characteristics of the shuttlecock and the pace created by constant volleying combine to make badminton one of the most exciting sports to play and watch.
 

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Feature

“Did You Know?” History and fun facts about Badminton.
Highlights badminton’s Olympic entry; illustrates the construction of the shuttle cock and the sport’s blinding speed; and lists famous celebrities that love the game.

 

1:26

Mens Doubles Mini

2000 U.S. Adult Nat’l Championships: Extended highlights of men’s doubles finals from the Orange Cty. Badminton Club in California. Captures the lightening-fast play of Fogarty/Wu v. Malaythong/Rojsirivit, with play-by-play and color by Brian Drebber and Ben Lee.

 

8:15

Womens Singles

2000 U.S. Adult Nat’l Championships: Extended highlights of women’s singles finals from the Orange Cty. Badminton Club in California. Captures the explosive play of Yeping Tang v. Elie Wu, with play-by-play and color by Brian Drebber and Ben Lee.

 

3:05
 
 

 

Tennis vs. Badminton

"Statistics Don't Lie"

Submitted by the USBA. 16FEB96 Updated by the IGPB. 28NOV96

location: http://www.worldbadminton.com/badfacts.html

The speed and the stamina required for badminton are far greater than for any other racket sport.

At the 1985 All England (Tennis) Championships, Boris Becker defeated Kevin Curren 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

At the 1985 World Badminton Championships in Calgary, Canada, Han Jian of China defeated Morten Frost of Denmark, 14-18, 15-10, 15-8.

The following is a statistical comparison of those matches.

TENNIS

BADMINTON

Time:

3 hours and 18 minutes

1 hour and 16 minutes

Ball/Shuttle in Play:

18 minutes

37 minutes

Match Intensity*:

9 percent

48 percent

Rallies:

299

146

Shots:

1,004

1,972

Shots Per Rally:

3.4

13.5

Distance Covered:

2 miles

4 miles.

*The actual time the ball/shuttle was in flight, divided by the length of the match.

 

Note that the badminton players competed for half the time, yet

ran twice as far and hit nearly twice as many shots.