History and development

Battledore and Shuttlecock. 1854, from the John Leech Archive^[1]

Badminton was known in ancient times; an early form of sport played in ancient Greece and Egypt. In Japan, the related game Hanetsuki was played as early as the 16th century. In the west, badminton came from a game called battledore and shuttlecock, in which two or more players keep a feathered shuttlecock in the air with small rackets. The game was called "Poona" in India during the 18th Century, and British Army Officers stationed there and they took a competitive Indian version back to England in the 1860's where it was played at country houses as an upper class amusement. Isaac Spratt, a London toy dealer published a booklet, "Badminton Battledore - a new game" in 1860, but unfortunately no copy has survived.^[2]

The new sport was definitively launched in 1873 at the Badminton House, Gloucestershire owned by the Duke of Beaufort. During that time, the game was referred to as "The Game of Badminton," and, the game's official name became Badminton.^[3]

Until 1887 the sport was played in England under the rules that prevailed in India. The Bath Badminton Club standardized the rules and made the game applicable to English ideas. The basic regulations were drawn up in 1887.^[3] However, in 1893, the Badminton Association of England published the first set of rules according to these regulations, similar to that of today, and officially launched badminton in a house called "Dunbar" at 6 Waverley Grove, Portsmouth, England on September 13 of that year.^[4] They also started the All England Open Badminton Championships, the first badminton competition in the world, in 1899.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) was established in 1934 with Canada, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales as its founding members. India joined as an affiliate in 1936. The BWF now governs international badminton and develops the sport globally.^[5]

While originated in England, badminton has traditionally been dominated by a few Asian countries and Denmark from Europe on the world stage. China, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia are among the nations that have consistently produced world-class players generations after generations in the past few decades and dominating competitions on the international level, with China being the most dominant in recent years.^[6]