Past Events
A picture of a shuttlecock and battledore from 1804.
John Leech's illustration from 1854 showing a battledore and shuttlecock.
Games using shuttlecocks have been played for millennia throughout Eurasia[a]. However, the contemporary game of badminton originated as a variation of the earlier battledore and shuttlecock game among British Indian expatriate officers in the middle of the 19th century. ("Racquet" was formerly known as "Battledore").[4] Its precise origin is still unknown. It's unclear why or when the name originated, but it comes from the Duke of Beaufort's Badminton House in Gloucestershire [5]. A booklet titled Badminton Battledore - A New Game was published as early as 1860 by Isaac Spratt, a toy merchant in London; however, no copy of the booklet is known to have survived.[6] According to a Cornhill Magazine article from 1863, badminton is
The garrison town of Poona (Pune), where the game gained its initial popularity and the original rules were drafted in 1873, was the inspiration for the game's other early names, Poona or Poonah.[6][7][b] In 1875, a badminton club was established in Folkestone by officers who were going home. The sport was first played with teams of one to four people, but it was soon discovered that matches with two or four players produced the best results.[4] The shuttlecocks had an India rubber coating and were occasionally lead-weighted when used for outdoor play.[4] It was desirable that the net reach the ground, even though its depth was unimportant.[4]
Odysseus, Charles Gleyre, and Nausicaa (with badminton rackets).
The Pune team competed in the sport.The International Badminton Federation (now known as the Badminton World Federation) was founded in 1934 with the following members: England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In 1936, India became an associate. Today, international badminton is governed by the BWF. Denmark has long dominated men's competitive badminton throughout Europe, despite the sport's origins in England. Asian countries are now dominating international competition on a global scale. The countries that have produced world-class players over the past few decades are China, Denmark, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, South Korea, Taiwan (sometimes known as "Chinese Taipei"), and Japan, with China emerging as the dominant force in both men's and women's competitions. The country that established the contemporary game's rules, Great Britain, is not one of the leading
You must be logged in to post a comment.