Badminton

History of Badminton

Badminton is considered one of the important athletic games in the whole world. It is not only played between Asian countries but also has a good name in European countries too. People of all ages play it in delightful and enjoying manner in order to remain fit and healthy.

Badminton is a sport in which athletes hit a shuttlecock, or birdie, over a net with a racket in an attempt to keep the birdie from hitting the ground. It was first included as a medal sport in 1992. The upper class elite of England first played badminton in its modern form in the 1300s. Though similar, the first version of badminton played in England did not use a net or boundaries.

In the 1800s, the Duke of Beaufort introduced the idea of net and boundaries to the sport. Because his family often played the game at his estate — called Badminton — the game was named for his home. Soon after the Duke of Beaufort’s changes, British officers in India also made rule changes to the sport and called in “Poona.” The version played by the British officers if the version seen in the Olympic Games today.

As early as 1860, Isaac Spratt a London toy dealer published a booklet, 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". This early use has cast doubt on the origin through expatriates in India, though it is known that it was popular there in the 1870s and that the first rules were drawn up in Poona in 1873. Another source cites that it was in 1877 at Karachi in (British) India, where the first attempt was made to form a set of rules.  As early as 1875, veterans returning from India started a club in Folk stone. Until 1887, the sport was played in England under the rules that prevailed in British India.

The Bath Badminton Club standardized the rules and made the game...