Badminton is the name of a town in the county of Gloucestershire (England). There is the country house known as Badminton House, owned by the Dukes of Beaufort.
At Badminton House, thanks to the Duke of Beaufort, a sport of Indian origin became popular and is now known in our language as badminton. Badminton resembles tennis, although a feather or shuttlecock is used instead of a ball.
This sport was born in Pune, a city in India. Some members of the British army who learned about the game while carrying out their duties in the Asian country took it to the United Kingdom in 1875 and, thus, it began to be played frequently at Badminton House.
Badminton can be played individually (one player against another) or in pairs (two players against two others). The court has a rectangular shape and is divided in half with a net. Players have to hit the shuttlecock or feather with their rackets and get it to go over the net to reach the other half of the court.
Unlike tennis and other racquet sports, the shuttlecock is not allowed to touch the ground in badminton. That is why the player who manages to get the shuttlecock to the ground in the area of the court occupied by his rival gets a point.
The badminton scoring system has changed throughout history. Currently, it is common for matches to be played to the best of three sets (that is, whoever wins two sets wins). Each set ends when one of the players reaches 21 points.
One of the labels this sport receives is ” the fastest racket game in the world “, and this trait alone makes it attractive to many people. The first step that anyone should take before beginning to learn the rules of the game is to accept that it is not a version of tennis.
Precisely, understanding the objective of badminton is essential to become a good player. As mentioned above, the limit points for starting is 21, and the way to score is to serve as the steering wheel so that the opponent can not return.
It is worth mentioning that one of the requirements to obtain victory is to be two points above the rival, that is, games are not always concluded when a player reaches 21; the only exception occurs when reaching 29 points, at which point the victory is obtained by the next to score.
On the other hand, we must not forget the importance of knowing the field of play in detail, since we must predispose our body in such a way that it respects its dimensions and the limits imposed on us for infractions that spoil our efforts with the racket. Broadly speaking, we can say that the width of the court measures 6.7 meters and its length, 13.4. The net should be located right in the middle of both sides, and should be 1.5 meters high from the ground.
Depending on the game mode, the entire surface or part of the court is used; for example, double games have more space on both sides for the serve and return of the shuttle.
The racket is another of the essential elements of badminton and its appearance is very different from other games, such as tennis. The standard has an extension of 66 centimeters and its average weight is around 140 grams. The most important blows are forehand and backhand, for which it is necessary to develop great speed with the wrist.
