From Party Game to Serious Sport
Nearly anyone can pick up a lightweight badminton racket and hit the shuttlecock over the net. Because it’s an easy game for beginners, badminton remains popular at picnics and parties. But badminton is deceptive. It is the fastest of all the racket sports. A powerfully hit shuttle can travel as fast as 200 miles per hour. At the elite levels, the game requires amazing speed, strategy, leaping ability, power and quickness. A player can run as much as a mile during a match.

As the best players moved from the lawns and salons to competitive courts, they naturally wanted to compete against other top athletes. The All-England Championships gave them this opportunity. By 1938, players from other countries began to compete in this tournament. An American woman, Judy Hashman, won 17 all All-England titles—the most of any player in history.

More tournaments and competitions became available as the sport continued to attract more competitive players. In 1939, Sir George Thomas donated the Thomas Cup, a trophy to be awarded at the International Badminton Championship for the top men’s singles players. (Badminton can be played by men or women in singles and doubles competition, and by teams of mixed doubles.) Thomas was a British lawn tennis champion who switched to badminton and won 90 tournament titles over 24 years. Thomas was also the first president of the IBF.

In 1949, the Thomas Cup became a men’s world team championship competition much like the Davis Cup in tennis. In 1956, the Uber Cup competition was created for women. Betty Uber of England, one of badminton’s top doubles players, donated the trophy. See a list of Thomas and Uber Cup winners below. Initially, the Davis and Uber Cup Competitions were played every three years. Since 1982, international team championships have been every two years—in even-numbered years. In odd-numbered years, individuals compete for international honors.

Four Square Championships

Uber Cup Winners

Today, the world’s very best badminton players compete professionally for prize money. Television contracts and sponsorships have dramatically increased the winnings available on the pro badminton circuit.

Asia Dominates the Sport
Though England birthed the sport of badminton, it has been Asia that adopted it as its own. China and Indonesia are the two dominant nations in international badminton competition. Matches in these nations draw crowds of more than 15,000. These two countries together have won an astonishing 70 percent of all IBF events. Asian countries have claimed all 23 Thomas Cups that have been awarded. In Uber Cup competition, Asian nations have won the last 15 titles.

The Olympics have been another showcase for Asian badminton prowess. Badminton was played as a demonstration sport at both the 1972 and 1988 Olympic games. In 1992, medal competition began in men’s and women’s singles and doubles. Mixed doubles was added in 1996. Of the 61 medals awarded in Olympic badminton, Asian countries have won all but seven. The chart below clearly shows their dominance.

Olympic Badminton Medals

Outside of Asia, the Scandinavian countries have the strongest badminton programs. Six times, Denmark has finished second in Thomas cup competition. Interest in badminton, primarily in these two parts of the world, make it the world’s second most popular sport behind soccer.

The modern history of badminton began in India with a game known as poona. Poona was a competitive sport that British Army officers learned and brought back to England, but more about that part of badminton’s history in a moment. First, we must answer the question, “So just where did the game of poona come from?”

Child’s Play
Poona developed from a children’s game called battledore and shuttlecock. The object of this game was to see how long a group could volley the shuttlecock by hitting it with the battledore, or paddle. This cooperative, non-competitive game was originally played without a net. The shuttlecock is often called a bird because its made out feathers. Today, some models are made of plastic, but competition shuttlecocks consist of 16 real feathers. Experts claim the very best shuttles are made from feathers taken from the left wing of a goose. Who knew?

Even before battledore and shuttlecock evolved, there were similar sports being played throughout the world. In fifth century China, ti jian zi was played by kicking a shuttle into the air. By the 1600s, people in Europe were playing jeu de volant, a game that used a racket rather than feet to volley the shuttle.

By the time British officers stationed in India encountered poona the game was a fast-paced competitive sport. These officers took the equipment for poona back to England in the early 1870s.

A Party at Badminton
It was the Duke of Beaufort who officially introduced the game to England. In 1873, guests at a lawn party on his country estate, Badminton, played a game of poona. The game was a hit and soon became popular among the British elite. People began calling the new party sport “the Badminton game.”

The game was played both indoors and outdoors on a court with an hourglass shape. It has been suggested that this unusual shape developed so the game could be played in Victorian salons, large rooms with doors that opened inward on both sides. In 1901, the official badminton court became rectangular.

Badminton clubs were started throughout England. By 1893, badminton had grown to the point where 14 clubs joined to form the Badminton Association. (Later, when more countries started their own federations, the name was changed to the Badminton Association of England.) This group was instrumental in standardizing the laws of the sport and in starting the earliest and most prestigious badminton tournament, the All-England Badminton Championships.

As badminton spread to more countries, the need for an international governing board became apparent. The International Badminton Federation was created in 1934 and today has its headquarters in Kent, England. These nine countries were the original members of the IBF:

Canada
Denmark
England
France
Ireland
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Scotland
Wales
Today, the IBF has more than 150 member nations. The American Badminton Association was formed in the United States in 1936 and joined the IBF in 1938. In 1978 the ABA changed its name to the U.S. Badminton Association