Badminton.

« Once play has started, players tend to hit straight, low-flying shots called drives.

When the shuttle remains close to the center of the court, net shots can be a goodoption.

Net shots can be hard-hit or delicate.

They are aimed at the front area of the opponent’s court, forcing the opponent to play the shot close to the net. If the opponent manages to return a net shot, the return must be hit high to clear the net.

This gives the player a chance for a smash—the deadliest attacking stroke inbadminton.

A smash is hit to the floor so forcefully that the opponent has no chance to return the shuttle before it hits the ground.

The hardest smash has beenrecorded at more than 200 mph (320 km/h). Players also use two looping strokes that knock the shuttle high and deep.

The lift, or lob, is an offensive stroke made from the middle or front of the court.

This shotsends the shuttle in a high arc above the opponent’s reach, forcing the opponent to the back of the court.

The clear is a similar stroke, but it is used for defensivepurposes when players find themselves out of position.

The high arc gives players time to return to the middle of the court and to prepare for another rally. VII COMPETITION Many badminton enthusiasts play in clubs or at local and regional levels.

Top players compete in the World Grand Prix series, an international circuit of tournamentssanctioned by the IBF. The world championships are badminton’s biggest event and are held every two years.

The tournament features five competitions: men’s and women’s singles, men’sand women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.

The world championships are always preceded the previous week at the same venue by the Sudirman Cup world mixed teamchampionships, where contests between nations are decided by five matches: men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Two of badminton’s most exciting events are the men’s Thomas Cup and the women’s Uber Cup.

These world team championships, which take place every two yearsside by side at the same time and at the same venue, have continental qualifying rounds.

Contests are staged in a round-robin format with knockout finals at both thequalifying stages in February and the grand finals in May.

Thomas Cup and Uber Cup contests consist of three singles and two doubles matches. Other major events are the European championships, held every two years, and the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games, both held every four years. The IBF, located in Cheltenham, England, regulates all these events and is the sport’s governing body.

Representatives from Canada, Denmark, England, France,Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales founded the organization in 1934.

Today the IBF has about 140 member nations. VIII HISTORY Badminton traces its beginnings to a game played thousands of years ago in Asia.

The modern form of the sport was refined in Britain, but it is popular in countries allover the world. A Beginnings Badminton evolved from a Chinese game of the 5th century BC called ti jian zi that involved kicking the shuttle.

A later version of the sport was played in ancient Greece and India with rackets rather than with feet.

A similar game called shuttlecock, or jeu de volant, appeared in Europe during the 1600s. British army officers brought a revised version of the game back to Britain from India in the mid-19th century.

In 1873 the duke of Beaufort introduced the game toroyalty at his country estate, Badminton House, and the sport became known as badminton.

Four years later the Bath Badminton Club was founded.

The version playedby its members forms the basis for today’s game. B Growth in Popularity Badminton soon spread beyond Britain to the rest of Europe and to countries throughout the world.

It became especially popular in Asia and North America.

The onlymajor change through the years was in playing equipment, as lightweight rackets made of aluminum, boron, graphite, and titanium gradually replaced wooden models. During and after World War II (1939-1945), American badminton players came to prominence in international play.

In the 1940s David Freeman was recognized as theworld’s best player.

He won seven United States singles titles (1939-1942, 1947, 1948, 1953) and the All-England singles title (1949).

He remained unbeaten in singlescompetition from the age of 19 until he retired at age 33.

American-born player Judy Devlin Hashman dominated the women’s game during the 1950s and 1960s; shebecame a naturalized citizen of Britain in 1970.

England’s Gillian Gilks dominated women’s singles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles play during the early 1970s. Badminton’s first world championships were held in 1977.

Denmark’s Flemming Delfs and Lene Koppen won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively.

Sincethen, East Asian nations—primarily China and Indonesia—have dominated professional badminton.

In both countries, badminton is as popular as basketball is in theUnited States or soccer is in Britain.

Spectators at matches typically sing, chant, and cheer for their favorite players or teams. C Recent Developments Badminton was played as a demonstration sport at the 1972 and 1988 Olympic Games and became a medal sport in 1992; all the champions that year were fromIndonesia or South Korea.

Since then the game has seen the emergence of players from China, with three of the five gold medals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens,Greece, going to Chinese competitors. Individuals from China and Indonesia have won numerous world championship titles.

In the late 20th century men’s singles world champions included Rudy Hartono(1980) of Indonesia and Yang Yang (1987, 1989), Zhao Jianhua (1991), and Sun Jun (1999) of China.

Women’s world champions included Indonesia’s Susi Susanti(1993) and China’s Ye Zhaoying (1995, 1997). One of the most noted doubles player was South Korean men’s star Park Joo Bong, who won an Olympic gold medal in men’s doubles in 1992 and a silver medal inmixed doubles in 1996. Denmark was also a badminton powerhouse, with players such as 1996 men’s Olympic gold medalist Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen, 1997 men’s world champion PeterRasmussen, and 1999 women’s world champion Camilla Martin. As the 21st century began, players from China and Indonesia continued to excel.

Among the men’s singles champions were Hendrawan (2001) and Taufik Hidayat(2005) of Indonesia and Xia Xuanze (2003) and Lin Dan (2006, 2007) of China.

China has dominated the women’s singles championships since 2001 with such stars asXie Xingfang (2005, 2006) and Lin Zhu (2007).

The United States broke through to win the men’s doubles competition in 2005 with the combination of Howard Bachand Tony Gunawan.

Indonesia returned to form in 2007 in world doubles competition, winning both the men’s and mixed doubles.

Chinese women continued to. »