Badminton is a racquet sport played using
racquets to hit a
shuttlecock across a
net.
Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of
the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with
two players per side). Badminton is often played as a casual outdoor
activity in a yard or on a beach; formal games are played on a
rectangular indoor court. Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock
with the racquet
[1] and landing it within the opposing side's half of the court.
Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over
the net. Play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a
fault has been called by the umpire, service judge, or (in their
absence) the opposing side.
The shuttlecock is a feathered or (in informal matches) plastic
projectile which flies differently from the balls used in many other
sports. In particular, the feathers create much higher
drag,
causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly. Shuttlecocks also
have a high top speed compared to the balls in other racquet sports.
The game developed in
British India from the earlier game of
battledore and shuttlecock. European play came to be dominated by
Denmark but the game has become very popular in Asia, with recent competition dominated by
China. Since 1992, badminton has been a
Summer Olympic sport with
five events:
men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and
mixed doubles. At high levels of play, the sport demands excellent
fitness: players require
aerobic stamina,
agility, strength, speed, and precision. It is also a technical sport, requiring good
motor coordination and the development of sophisticated racquet movements.
History
Games employing
shuttlecocks have been played for centuries across
Eurasia[n 1] but the modern game of badminton developed in the mid-19th century among the
British as a variant of the earlier game of
battledore and shuttlecock. ("Battledore" was an older term for "racquet".) Its exact origin remains obscure. The name derives from the
Duke of Beaufort's
Badminton House in
Gloucestershire, but why or when remains unclear. As early as 1860, a London toy dealer named
Isaac Spratt published a booklet titled
Badminton Battledore—A New Game but unfortunately no copy has survived. An 1863 article in
The Cornhill Magazine
describes badminton as "battledore and shuttlecock played with sides,
across a string suspended some five feet from the ground".
[7]
The game may have originally developed among expatriate officers in
British India, where it was very popular by the 1870s.
Ball badminton, a form of the game played with a wool ball instead of a shuttlecock, was being played in
Thanjavur as early as the 1850s
[9] and was at first played interchangeably with
badminton by the British, the woollen ball being preferred in windy or wet weather.
Early on, the game was also known as
Poona or
Poonah after the garrison town of
Pune, where it was particularly popular and where the first rules for the game were drawn up in 1873.
[7][n 2] By 1875, returning officers had started a badminton club in
Folkestone.
Initially, the sport was played with sides ranging from 1–4 players but
it was quickly established that games between two or four competitors
worked the best. The shuttlecocks were coated with
India rubber and, in outdoor play, sometimes weighted with
lead. Although the depth of the net was of no consequence, it was preferred that it should reach the ground.
The sport was played under the Pune rules until 1887, when the J.H.E. Hart of the
Bath Badminton Club drew up revised regulations. In 1890, Hart and Bagnel Wild again revised the rules. The Badminton Association of England published these rules in 1893 and officially launched the sport at a house called "Dunbar"
[n 3] in
Portsmouth on 13 September.
[12] The BAE started the first badminton competition, the
All England Open Badminton Championships for gentlemen's doubles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles, in 1899. Singles competitions were added in 1900 and an
England—
Ireland championship match appeared in 1904.
England,
Scotland,
Wales,
Canada,
Denmark,
France,
Ireland, the
Netherlands, and
New Zealand were the founding members of the International Badminton Federation in 1934, now known as the
Badminton World Federation.
India
joined as an affiliate in 1936. The BWF now governs international
badminton. Although initiated in England, competitive men's badminton
has traditionally been dominated in Europe by Denmark. Worldwide, Asian
nations have become dominant in international competition.
China,
Denmark,
India,
Indonesia,
Malaysia, and
South Korea
are the nations which have consistently produced world-class players in
the past few decades, with China being the greatest force in men's and
women's competition recently.
Rules
The following information is a simplified summary of badminton rules based on the BWF Statutes publication,
Laws of Badminton.
[13]
Court
The court is rectangular and divided into halves by a net. Courts are
usually marked for both singles and doubles play, although badminton
rules permit a court to be marked for singles only.
[13]
The doubles court is wider than the singles court, but both are of same
length. The exception, which often causes confusion to newer players,
is that the doubles court has a shorter serve-length dimension.
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). The service courts are marked by a centre
line dividing the width of the court, by a short service line at a
distance of 1.98 metres (6 ft 6 inch) from the net, and by the outer
side and back boundaries. In doubles, the service court is also marked
by a long service line, which is 0.76 metres (2 ft 6 inch) from the back
boundary.
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.
The minimum height for the ceiling above the court is not mentioned
in the Laws of Badminton. Nonetheless, a badminton court will not be
suitable if the ceiling is likely to be hit on a high serve.
Serving
The legal bounds of a badminton court during various stages of a rally for singles and doubles games
When the server serves, the shuttlecock must pass over the short
service line on the opponents' court or it will count as a fault.
At the start of the rally, the server and receiver stand in diagonally opposite
service courts (see
court dimensions). The server hits the shuttlecock so that it would land in the receiver's service court. This is similar to
tennis,
except that a badminton serve must be hit below waist height and with
the racquet shaft pointing downwards, the shuttlecock is not allowed to
bounce and in badminton, the players stand inside their service courts
unlike tennis.
When the serving side loses a rally, the serve immediately passes to
their opponent(s) (this differs from the old system where sometimes the
serve passes to the doubles partner for what is known as a "second
serve").
In singles, the server stands in their right service court when their
score is even, and in her/his left service court when her/his score is
odd.
In doubles, if the serving side wins a rally, the same player
continues to serve, but he/she changes service courts so that she/he
serves to a different opponent each time. If the opponents win the rally
and their new score is even, the player in the right service court
serves; if odd, the player in the left service court serves. The
players' service courts are determined by their positions at the start
of the previous rally, not by where they were standing at the end of the
rally. A consequence of this system is that, each time a side regains
the service, the server will be the player who did
not serve last time.
Scoring
Each game is played to 21 points, with players scoring a point whenever they win a rally regardless of whether they served
[13]
(this differs from the old system where players could only win a point
on their serve and each game was played to 15 points). A match is the
best of three games.
If the score reaches 20-all, then the game continues until one side
gains a two-point lead (such as 24–22), except when there is a tie at
29-all, in which the game goes to a golden point. Whoever scores this
point will win.
At the start of a match, the shuttlecock is cast and the side towards
which the shuttlecock is pointing serves first. Alternatively, a coin
may be tossed, with the winners choosing whether to serve or receive
first, or choosing which end of the court to occupy first, and their
opponents making the leftover the remaining choice.
In subsequent games, the winners of the previous game serve first.
Matches are best out of three: a player or pair must win two games (of
21 points each) to win the match. For the first rally of any doubles
game, the serving pair may decide who serves and the receiving pair may
decide who receives. The players change ends at the start of the second
game; if the match reaches a third game, they change ends both at the
start of the game and when the leading player's or pair's score reaches
11 points.
The server and receiver must remain within their service courts,
without touching the boundary lines, until the server strikes the
shuttlecock. The other two players may stand wherever they wish, so long
as they do not block the vision of the server or receiver.
Lets
If a let is called, the rally is stopped and replayed with no change
to the score. Lets may occur because of some unexpected disturbance such
as a shuttlecock landing on court (having been hit there by players
playing in adjacent court) or in small halls the shuttle may touch an
overhead rail which can be classed as a let.
If the receiver is not ready when the service is delivered, a let
shall be called; yet, if the receiver attempts to return the
shuttlecock, the receiver shall be judged to have been ready.
Equipment
Badminton rules restrict the design and size of racquets and shuttlecocks.
Racquets
Badminton
racquets are lightweight, with top quality racquets weighing between 70 and 95 grams (2.5 and 3.4 ounces) not including grip or strings.
[14][15] They are composed of many different materials ranging from
carbon fibre composite (
graphite reinforced plastic) to solid steel, which may be augmented by a variety of materials.
Carbon fibre has an excellent strength to weight ratio, is stiff, and gives excellent
kinetic energy
transfer. Before the adoption of carbon fibre composite, racquets were
made of light metals such as aluminum. Earlier still, racquets were made
of wood. Cheap racquets are still often made of metals such as steel,
but wooden racquets are no longer manufactured for the ordinary market,
because of their excessive mass and cost. Nowadays, nanomaterials such
as
fullerene and
carbon nanotubes are added to racquets giving them greater durability.
[citation needed]
There is a wide variety of racquet designs, although the laws limit
the racquet size and shape. Different racquets have playing
characteristics that appeal to different players. The traditional oval
head shape is still available, but an
isometric head shape is increasingly common in new racquets.
Strings
Badminton strings are thin, high performing strings with thicknesses
ranging from about 0.62 to 0.73 mm. Thicker strings are more durable,
but many players prefer the feel of thinner strings. String tension is
normally in the range of 80 to 160
N (18 to 36
lbf).
Recreational players generally string at lower tensions than
professionals, typically between 80 and 110 N (18 and 25 lbf).
Professionals string between about 110 and 160 N (25 and 36 lbf). Some
string manufacturers measure the thickness of their strings under
tension so they are actually thicker than specified when slack. Ashaway
Micropower is actually 0.7mm but Yonex BG-66 is about 0.72mm.
It is often argued that high string tensions improve control, whereas low string tensions increase power.
[16]
The arguments for this generally rely on crude mechanical reasoning,
such as claiming that a lower tension string bed is more bouncy and
therefore provides more power. This is in fact incorrect, for a higher
string tension can cause the shuttle to slide off the racquet and hence
make it harder to hit a shot accurately. An alternative view suggests
that the optimum tension for power depends on the player:
[14]
the faster and more accurately a player can swing their racquet, the
higher the tension for maximum power. Neither view has been subjected to
a rigorous mechanical analysis, nor is there clear evidence in favour
of one or the other. The most effective way for a player to find a good
string tension is to experiment.
Grip
The choice of grip allows a player to increase the thickness of their
racquet handle and choose a comfortable surface to hold. A player may
build up the handle with one or several grips before applying the final
layer.
Players may choose between a variety of grip materials. The most common choices are
PU
synthetic grips or towelling grips. Grip choice is a matter of personal
preference. Players often find that sweat becomes a problem; in this
case, a drying agent may be applied to the grip or hands, sweatbands may
be used, the player may choose another grip material or change his/her
grip more frequently.
There are two main types of grip:
replacement grips and
overgrips.
Replacement grips are thicker, and are often used to increase the size
of the handle. Overgrips are thinner (less than 1 mm), and are often
used as the final layer. Many players, however, prefer to use
replacement grips as the final layer. Towelling grips are always
replacement grips. Replacement grips have an adhesive backing, whereas
overgrips have only a small patch of adhesive at the start of the tape
and must be applied under tension; overgrips are more convenient for
players who change grips frequently, because they may be removed more
rapidly without damaging the underlying material.
Shuttlecock
A shuttlecock with a plastic skirt
Main article:
Shuttlecock
A shuttlecock (often abbreviated to
shuttle; also called a
birdie) is a high-drag
projectile, with an open
conical shape: the cone is formed from sixteen overlapping
feathers embedded into a rounded cork base. The
cork is covered with thin
leather or synthetic material.
Synthetic
shuttles are often used by recreational players to reduce their costs
as feathered shuttles break easily. These nylon shuttles may be
constructed with either natural cork or synthetic foam base, and a
plastic skirt.
Badminton rules also provide for testing a shuttlecock for the correct speed:
3.1: To test a shuttlecock, hit a full underhand stroke which
makes contact with the shuttlecock over the back boundary line. The
shuttlecock shall be hit at an upward angle and in a direction parallel
to the side lines.
3.2: A shuttlecock of the correct speed will land not less
than 530 mm and not more than 990 mm short of the other back boundary
line.
Shoes
Badminton
shoes are lightweight with soles of
rubber or similar high-grip, non-marking materials.
Compared to running shoes, badminton shoes have little
lateral support.
High levels of lateral support are useful for activities where lateral
motion is undesirable and unexpected. Badminton, however, requires
powerful lateral movements. A highly built-up lateral support will not
be able to protect the foot in badminton; instead, it will encourage
catastrophic collapse at the point where the shoe's support fails, and
the player's ankles are not ready for the sudden loading, which can
cause sprains. For this reason, players should choose badminton shoes
rather than general trainers or running shoes, because proper badminton
shoes will have a very thin sole, lower a person's centre of gravity,
and therefore result in fewer injuries. Players should also ensure that
they learn safe and proper footwork, with the knee and foot in alignment
on all lunges. This is more than just a safety concern: proper footwork
is also critical in order to move effectively around the court.
Technique
A player flies high at the Golden Gate Badminton Club (GGBC) in Menlo Park, 2006
Strokes
Badminton offers a wide variety of basic strokes, and players require
a high level of skill to perform all of them effectively. All strokes
can be played either
forehand or
backhand. A player's
forehand side is the same side as their playing hand: for a right-handed
player, the forehand side is their right side and the backhand side is
their left side. Forehand strokes are hit with the front of the hand
leading (like hitting with the palm), whereas backhand strokes are hit
with the back of the hand leading (like hitting with the knuckles).
Players frequently play certain strokes on the forehand side with a
backhand hitting action, and vice versa.
In the forecourt and midcourt, most strokes can be played equally
effectively on either the forehand or backhand side; but in the rear
court, players will attempt to play as many strokes as possible on their
forehands, often preferring to play a
round-the-head forehand
overhead (a forehand "on the backhand side") rather than attempt a
backhand overhead. Playing a backhand overhead has two main
disadvantages. First, the player must turn their back to their
opponents, restricting their view of them and the court. Second,
backhand overheads cannot be hit with as much power as forehands: the
hitting action is limited by the shoulder joint, which permits a much
greater range of movement for a forehand overhead than for a backhand.
The
backhand clear is considered by most players and coaches to
be the most difficult basic stroke in the game, since precise technique
is needed in order to muster enough power for the shuttlecock to travel
the full length of the court. For the same reason,
backhand smashes tend to be weak.
Position of the shuttlecock and receiving player
A player does a forehand service, 2009, Philadelphia
The choice of stroke depends on how near the shuttlecock is to the
net, whether it is above net height, and where an opponent is currently
positioned: players have much better attacking options if they can reach
the shuttlecock well above net height, especially if it is also close
to the net.
In the forecourt, a high shuttlecock will be met with a
net kill,
hitting it steeply downwards and attempting to win the rally
immediately. This is why it is best to drop the shuttlecock just over
the net in this situation.
In the midcourt, a high shuttlecock will usually be met with a powerful
smash, also hitting downwards and hoping for an outright winner or a weak reply. Athletic
jump smashes, where players jump upwards for a steeper smash angle, are a common and spectacular element of elite men's doubles play.
In the rearcourt, players strive to hit the shuttlecock while it is still above them, rather than allowing it to drop lower. This
overhead hitting allows them to play smashes,
clears (hitting the shuttlecock high and to the back of the opponents' court), and
drop shots
(hitting the shuttlecock softly so that it falls sharply downwards into
the opponents' forecourt). If the shuttlecock has dropped lower, then a
smash is impossible and a full-length, high clear is difficult.
Vertical position of the shuttlecock
A player prepares for a vertical jump smash
When the shuttlecock is well below net height, players have no choice but to hit upwards.
Lifts,
where the shuttlecock is hit upwards to the back of the opponents'
court, can be played from all parts of the court. If a player does not
lift, his only remaining option is to push the shuttlecock softly back
to the net: in the forecourt this is called a
netshot; in the midcourt or rearcourt, it is often called a
push or
block.
When the shuttlecock is near to net height, players can hit
drives,
which travel flat and rapidly over the net into the opponents' rear
midcourt and rearcourt. Pushes may also be hit flatter, placing the
shuttlecock into the front midcourt. Drives and pushes may be played
from the midcourt or forecourt, and are most often used in doubles: they
are an attempt to regain the attack, rather than choosing to lift the
shuttlecock and defend against smashes. After a successful drive or
push, the opponents will often be forced to lift the shuttlecock.
Spin
Balls may be spun to alter their bounce (for example, topspin and
backspin in tennis) or trajectory, and players may slice the ball
(strike it with an angled racquet face) to produce such spin; but, since
the shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce, this does not apply to
badminton.
Slicing the shuttlecock so that it spins, however, does have applications, and some are particular to badminton. (See
Basic strokes for an explanation of technical terms.)
- Slicing the shuttlecock from the side may cause it to travel in a
different direction from the direction suggested by the player's racquet
or body movement. This is used to deceive opponents.
- Slicing the shuttlecock from the side may cause it to follow a
slightly curved path (as seen from above), and the deceleration imparted
by the spin causes sliced strokes to slow down more suddenly towards
the end of their flight path. This can be used to create dropshots and
smashes that dip more steeply after they pass the net.
- When playing a netshot, slicing underneath the shuttlecock may cause
it to turn over itself (tumble) several times as it passes the net.
This is called a spinning netshot or tumbling netshot. The opponent will be unwilling to address the shuttlecock until it has corrected its orientation.
Due to the way that its feathers overlap, a shuttlecock also has a
slight natural spin about its axis of rotational symmetry. The spin is
in a counter-clockwise direction as seen from above when dropping a
shuttlecock. This natural spin affects certain strokes: a tumbling
netshot is more effective if the slicing action is from right to left,
rather than from left to right.
[17]
Biomechanics
Badminton
biomechanics
have not been the subject of extensive scientific study, but some
studies confirm the minor role of the wrist in power generation and
indicate that the major contributions to power come from internal and
external rotations of the upper and lower arm. Recent guides to the sport thus emphasize forearm rotation rather than wrist movements.
[19]
The feathers impart substantial drag, causing the shuttlecock to
decelerate greatly over distance. The shuttlecock is also extremely
aerodynamically stable: regardless of initial orientation, it will turn
to fly cork-first, and remain in the cork-first orientation.
One consequence of the shuttlecock's drag is that it requires
considerable power to hit it the full length of the court, which is not
the case for most racquet sports. The drag also influences the flight
path of a lifted (
lobbed) shuttlecock: the
parabola
of its flight is heavily skewed so that it falls at a steeper angle
than it rises. With very high serves, the shuttlecock may even fall
vertically.
Other factors
When defending against a smash, players have three basic
options: lift, block, or drive. In singles, a block to the net is the
most common reply. In doubles, a lift is the safest option but it
usually allows the opponents to continue smashing; blocks and drives are
counter-attacking strokes, but may be intercepted by the smasher's
partner. Many players use a backhand hitting action for returning
smashes on both the forehand and backhand sides, because backhands are
more effective than forehands at covering smashes directed to the body.
Hard shots directed towards the body are difficult to defend.
The service is restricted by
the Laws
and presents its own array of stroke choices. Unlike in tennis, the
server's racquet must be pointing in a downward direction to deliver the
serve so normally the shuttle must be hit upwards to pass over the net.
The server can choose a
low serve into the forecourt (like a push), or a lift to the back of the service court, or a flat
drive serve. Lifted serves may be either
high serves, where the shuttlecock is lifted so high that it falls almost vertically at the back of the court, or
flick serves, where the shuttlecock is lifted to a lesser height but falls sooner.
Deception
Once players have mastered these basic strokes, they can hit the
shuttlecock from and to any part of the court, powerfully and softly as
required. Beyond the basics, however, badminton offers rich potential
for advanced stroke skills that provide a competitive advantage. Because
badminton players have to cover a short distance as quickly as
possible, the purpose of many advanced strokes is to deceive the
opponent, so that either he is tricked into believing that a different
stroke is being played, or he is forced to delay his movement until he
actually sees the shuttle's direction. "Deception" in badminton is often
used in both of these senses. When a player is genuinely deceived, he
will often lose the point immediately because he cannot change his
direction quickly enough to reach the shuttlecock. Experienced players
will be aware of the trick and cautious not to move too early, but the
attempted deception is still useful because it forces the opponent to
delay his movement slightly. Against weaker players whose intended
strokes are obvious, an experienced player may move before the
shuttlecock has been hit, anticipating the stroke to gain an advantage.
Slicing and using a
shortened hitting action are the
two main technical devices that facilitate deception. Slicing involves
hitting the shuttlecock with an angled racquet face, causing it to
travel in a different direction than suggested by the body or arm
movement. Slicing also causes the shuttlecock to travel more slowly than
the arm movement suggests. For example, a good crosscourt
sliced dropshot
will use a hitting action that suggests a straight clear or smash,
deceiving the opponent about both the power and direction of the
shuttlecock. A more sophisticated slicing action involves brushing the
strings around the shuttlecock during the hit, in order to make the
shuttlecock spin. This can be used to improve the shuttle's trajectory,
by making it dip more rapidly as it passes the net; for example, a
sliced low serve can travel slightly faster than a normal low serve, yet
land on the same spot. Spinning the shuttlecock is also used to create
spinning netshots (also called
tumbling netshots),
in which the shuttlecock turns over itself several times (tumbles)
before stabilizing; sometimes the shuttlecock remains inverted instead
of tumbling. The main advantage of a spinning netshot is that the
opponent will be unwilling to address the shuttlecock until it has
stopped tumbling, since hitting the feathers will result in an
unpredictable stroke. Spinning netshots are especially important for
high level singles players.
The lightness of modern racquets allows players to use a very short
hitting action for many strokes, thereby maintaining the option to hit a
powerful or a soft stroke until the last possible moment. For example, a
singles player may hold his racquet ready for a netshot, but then flick
the shuttlecock to the back instead with a shallow lift when she or he
notices the opponent has moved before the actual shot was played. A
shallow lift takes less time to reach the ground and as mentioned above a
rally is over when the shuttlecock touches the ground. This makes the
opponent's task of covering the whole court much more difficult than if
the lift was hit higher and with a bigger, obvious swing. A short
hitting action is not only useful for deception: it also allows the
player to hit powerful strokes when he has no time for a big arm swing. A
big arm swing is also usually not advised in badminton because bigger
swings make it more difficult to recover for the next shot in fast
exchanges. The use of grip tightening is crucial to these techniques,
and is often described as
finger power. Elite players develop
finger power to the extent that they can hit some power strokes, such as
net kills, with less than a 10 centimetres (4 inches) racquet swing.
It is also possible to reverse this style of deception, by suggesting
a powerful stroke before slowing down the hitting action to play a soft
stroke. In general, this latter style of deception is more common in
the rearcourt (for example, dropshots disguised as smashes), whereas the
former style is more common in the forecourt and midcourt (for example,
lifts disguised as netshots).
Deception is not limited to slicing and short hitting actions. Players may also use
double motion,
where they make an initial racquet movement in one direction before
withdrawing the racquet to hit in another direction. Players will often
do this to send opponents in the wrong direction. The racquet movement
is typically used to suggest a straight angle but then play the stroke
cross court, or vice versa.
Triple motion is also possible, but this is very rare in actual play. An alternative to double motion is to use a
racquet head fake,
where the initial motion is continued but the racquet is turned during
the hit. This produces a smaller change in direction, but does not
require as much time.
Strategy
To win in badminton, players need to employ a wide variety of strokes
in the right situations. These range from powerful jumping smashes to
delicate tumbling net returns. Often rallies finish with a smash, but
setting up the smash requires subtler strokes. For example, a netshot
can force the opponent to lift the shuttlecock, which gives an
opportunity to smash. If the netshot is tight and tumbling, then the
opponent's lift will not reach the back of the court, which makes the
subsequent smash much harder to return.
Deception is also important. Expert players prepare for many
different strokes that look identical, and use slicing to deceive their
opponents about the speed or direction of the stroke. If an opponent
tries to anticipate the stroke, he may move in the wrong direction and
may be unable to change his body momentum in time to reach the
shuttlecock.
Singles
Since one person needs to cover the entire court, singles tactics are
based on forcing the opponent to move as much as possible; this means
that singles strokes are normally directed to the corners of the court.
Players exploit the length of the court by combining lifts and clears
with drop shots and net shots. Smashing tends to be less prominent in
singles than in doubles because the smasher has no partner to follow up
his effort and is thus vulnerable to a skillfully placed return.
Moreover, frequent smashing can be exhausting in singles where the
conservation of a player's energy is at a premium. However, players with
strong smashes will sometimes use the shot to create openings, and
players commonly smash weak returns to try to end rallies.
In singles, players will often start the rally with a forehand high
serve or with a flick serve. Low serves are also used frequently, either
forehand or backhand. Drive serves are rare.
At high levels of play, singles demands extraordinary fitness.
Singles is a game of patient positional manoeuvring, unlike the all-out
aggression of doubles.
Doubles
Both pairs will try to gain and maintain the attack, smashing
downwards when the opportunity arises. Whenever possible, a pair will
adopt an ideal attacking formation with one player hitting down from the
rearcourt, and his partner in the midcourt intercepting all smash
returns except the lift. If the rearcourt attacker plays a dropshot, his
partner will move into the forecourt to threaten the net reply. If a
pair cannot hit downwards, they will use flat strokes in an attempt to
gain the attack. If a pair is forced to lift or clear the shuttlecock,
then they must defend: they will adopt a side-by-side position in the
rear midcourt, to cover the full width of their court against the
opponents' smashes. In doubles, players generally smash to the middle
ground between two players in order to take advantage of confusion and
clashes.
At high levels of play, the backhand serve has become popular to the
extent that forehand serves have become fairly rare at a high level of
play. The straight low serve is used most frequently, in an attempt to
prevent the opponents gaining the attack immediately. Flick serves are
used to prevent the opponent from anticipating the low serve and
attacking it decisively.
At high levels of play, doubles rallies are extremely fast. Men's
doubles is the most aggressive form of badminton, with a high proportion
of powerful jump smashes and very quick reflex exchanges. Because of
this, spectator interest is sometimes greater for men's doubles than for
singles.
Mixed Doubles
A mixed doubles game – Scottish Schools under 12s tournament,
Tranent, May 2002
In mixed doubles, both pairs typically try to maintain an attacking
formation with the woman at the front and the man at the back. This is
because the male players are usually substantially stronger, and can
therefore produce smashes that are more powerful. As a result, mixed
doubles require greater tactical awareness and subtler positional play.
Clever opponents will try to reverse the ideal position, by forcing the
woman towards the back or the man towards the front. In order to protect
against this danger, mixed players must be careful and systematic in
their shot selection.
[20]
At high levels of play, the formations will generally be more
flexible: the top women players are capable of playing powerfully from
the back-court, and will happily do so if required. When the opportunity
arises, however, the pair will switch back to the standard mixed
attacking position, with the woman in front and men in the back.
Organization
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. Five regional confederations are
associated with the BWF:
Competitions
A men's doubles match. The blue lines are those for the badminton court.
The other coloured lines denote uses for other sports – such complexity
being common in multi-use sports halls.
The BWF organizes several international competitions, including the
Thomas Cup, the premier men's international team event first held in
1948–1949, and the
Uber Cup, the women's equivalent first held in
1956–1957.
The competitions now take place once every two years. More than 50
national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within continental
confederations for a place in the finals. The final tournament involves
12 teams, following an increase from eight teams in 2004.
The
Sudirman Cup,
a gender-mixed international team event held once every two years,
began in 1989. Teams are divided into seven levels based on the
performance of each country. To win the tournament, a country must
perform well across all five disciplines (men's doubles and singles,
women's doubles and singles, and mixed doubles). Like
association football (soccer), it features a promotion and relegation system in every level.
Badminton was a demonstration event in the
1972 and
1988 Summer Olympics. It became an official
Summer Olympic sport at the
Barcelona Olympics in
1992 and its gold medals now generally rate as the sport's most coveted prizes for individual players.
In the
BWF World Championships, first held in
1977,
currently only the highest ranked 64 players in the world, and a
maximum of four from each country, can participate in any category. In
both the Olympic and BWF World competitions restrictions on the number
of participants from any one country have caused some controversy
because they sometimes result in excluding elite world level players
from the strongest badminton nations. The Thomas, Uber, and Sudirman
Cups, the Olympics, and the BWF World (and
World Junior Championships), are all categorized as level one tournaments.
At the start of 2007, the BWF introduced a new tournament structure
for the highest level tournaments aside from those in level one: the
BWF Super Series.
This level two tournament series, a tour for the world's elite players,
stages twelve open tournaments around the world with 32 players (half
the previous limit). The players collect points that determine whether
they can play in Super Series Finals held at the year end. Among the
tournaments in this series is the venerable
All-England Championships, first held in 1900, which was once considered the unofficial world championships of the sport.
[21]
Level three tournaments consist of
Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix event.
Top players can collect the world ranking points and enable them to
play in the BWF Super Series open tournaments. These include the
regional competitions in Asia (
Badminton Asia Championships) and Europe (
European Badminton Championships), which produce the world's best players as well as the
Pan America Badminton Championships.
The level four tournaments, known as International Challenge,
International Series, and Future Series, encourage participation by
junior players.
[22]
Comparison with tennis
Badminton is frequently compared to tennis. The following is a list of manifest differences:
- Scoring: In badminton, a match is played best 2 of 3 games, with
each game played up to 21 points. In tennis a match is played best of 3
or 5 sets, each set consisting of 6 games and each game ends when one
player wins 4 points or wins two consecutive points at deuce points. If
both team are tied at "game point", they must play until one team
achieves a two-point advantage. However, at 29–all, whoever scores the
golden point will win. In tennis, if the score is tied 6–6 in a set, a
tiebreaker will be played, which ends once a player reaches 7 points or
when one player has a two-point advantage.
- In tennis, the ball may bounce once before the point ends; in badminton, the rally ends once the shuttlecock touches the floor.
- In tennis, the serve is dominant to the extent that the server is
expected to win most of his service games (at advanced level &
onwards); a break of service, where the server loses the game, is
of major importance in a match. In badminton a server has far less an
advantage, and is unlikely to score an ace (unreturnable serve).
- In tennis, the server has two chances to hit a serve into the service box; in badminton, the server is allowed only one attempt.
- A tennis court is approximately twice the length and width of a badminton court.
- Tennis racquets are about four times as heavy as badminton racquets,
10 to 12 ounces (280 to 340 grams) versus 2 to 3 ounces (57 to 85
grams).[23][24] Tennis balls are more than eleven times heavier than shuttlecocks, 57 grams (2.0 ounces) versus 5 grams (0.18 ounces).[25][26]
- The fastest recorded tennis stroke is Samuel Groth's 163.4 miles per hour (263 kilometres per hour) serve,[27]
whereas the fastest badminton stroke during gameplay was Fu Haifeng's
206 miles per hour (332 kilometres per hour) recorded smash.[28]
Statistics such as the smash speed, above, prompt badminton
enthusiasts to make other comparisons that are more contentious. For
example, it is often claimed that badminton is the fastest racquet
sport.
[citation needed]
Although badminton holds the record for the fastest initial speed of a
racquet sports projectile, the shuttlecock decelerates substantially
faster than other projectiles such as tennis balls. In turn, this
qualification must be qualified by consideration of the distance over
which the shuttlecock travels: a smashed shuttlecock travels a shorter
distance than a tennis ball during a serve.
While fans of badminton and tennis often claim that their sport is
the more physically demanding, such comparisons are difficult to make
objectively because of the differing demands of the games. No formal
study currently exists evaluating the physical condition of the players
or demands during game play.
Badminton and tennis techniques differ substantially. The lightness
of the shuttlecock and of badminton racquets allow badminton players to
make use of the wrist and fingers much more than tennis players; in
tennis the wrist is normally held stable, and playing with a mobile
wrist may lead to injury. For the same reasons, badminton players can
generate power from a short racquet swing: for some strokes such as net
kills, an elite player's swing may be less than 5 centimetres (2
inches). For strokes that require more power, a longer swing will
typically be used, but the badminton racquet swing will rarely be as
long as a typical tennis swing.
Source-wikipedia
Monte Carlo: Rafael Nadal needed nearly three hours to defeat Gael Monfils 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 on Sunday and win a record ninth title at the Monte Carlo Masters.
