Badminton

Did you know that:

British publications in the 1870's routinely showed  badminton scenes to poke fun at parliamentary or legal actions.    A badminton player appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the  1950's.    Parker Brothers manufactured a boxed badminton/battledore set  in the 1890's.    Badminton has spawned several shuttlecock related games including  Petecada (Brazil) and Iniaca (Germany, Brazil and Japan).    Badminton was a popular Hollywood sport in the 1930's; with tickets  for  the World Badminton Championships in 1935 (between Jack Purcell  (Canada) and Jess Willard (America)) costing $3.30 at the Ambassador  Auditorium.    There are over 77 different badminton related stamps from 21 different  countries.     That Badminton rackets and shuttlecocks have come in a variety of  different sizes and shapes over the years.

So you think you know about badminton?

Most people have seen badminton in one form or another and consequently  think they know badminton. However badminton may not be quite what you  imagine. Here are a few common questions and answers regarding badminton.

Badminton is that game we all play at family  picnics and in the backyard, right?

The backyard/picnic version of badminton is one type of badminton. Badminton  as a sport is played indoors with much more high-tech equipment. Modern  racquets are complex alloys of carbon graphite, boron, ceramic, aluminium and  steel in various proportions. These racquets are very light, less than 3.5  ounces and can be strung very tightly. Also the shuttlecock is made of  feathers, not plastic, and weighs between 4.74 and 5.50 grams. Shuttles cost  about $20 for a dozen and last about one game, at the most. The net is five  feet high, not the height of a volleyball net.

Even so it is still pretty slow, isn't it?

To play competitive badminton you need explosiveness, lightening quick  reflexes and rapid hand-eye coordination. Why you ask? Well the shuttlecock has  been clocked in excess of 180 mph (NO this is not a misprint). That's faster  than the fastest tennis serve, and occurs regularly during rallies at  the top level. Add onto this the fact that in doubles games there are often 40  or 50 shots in 20 seconds you can see that the first sentence was no exaggeration.

So what sort of action do you see in  badminton?

A badminton match consists of constant highly concentrated action; running,  jumping, twisting, stretching, running backwards, throwing and striking. In a  typical match the athletes cover every inch of the court and run more than one  mile.

Yeah right, how about some statistics?

OK then. Lets compare a Wimbledon final to a world championship final in  badminton. The Wimbledon final lasted 198 minutes, the badminton final 76  minutes. Doesn't look good for badminton right? WRONG! The actual amount of  time the ball or shuttlecock were in play were 18 minutes and 37 minutes  respectively. Breaking it down further to the number of shots played (1 004 to  1 972) and assuming 22 feet traveled per shot per player we find that the  tennis player covered about 2 miles, and the badminton player 4 miles. So the  badminton player ran TWICE as far in under half the time. This just goes to  show how tough badminton is. Tennis is a great game and most people understand the  athletic endeavors involved in playing at the top level. From this example we  can see that badminton athletes need to be in world-class condition.

Got any more stats?

Most certainly have; according to scientific experts (Department of Physical  Education at Baylor University) badminton is one of the finest conditioning  game activities. During a typical 3 game match, lasting 45 minutes the shuttle  will be in play for 20 minutes. In this time the player will make at least 350  changes of direction of 90° or more and strike the shuttle about 400  times. About 150 of these stokes will be full arm swings (with the racquet, of  course). Major league pitchers frequently have less arm swings than this in a  game. Pulse rate can increase from 72 to 125 for a person in normal condition.

OK, I'm convinced badminton is a tough sport  but isn't it pretty unpopular?

Not at all! Whilst badminton is a minority sport in the US it is widely  played in Britain, Denmark, Sweden, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea and  several other countries. Britain alone has 4 million players, about 8% of the  population. As a spectator sport it is very popular in the far east. The  badminton events at the Seoul Olympics were among the first to sell out,  despite it only being a demonstration sport. The estimated audience for the 92  Olympic finals ran into the hundreds of millions, upto 1.1 BILLION in total.  They are still counting the numbers for the '96 Olympics and once we know we'll  put the numbers here.

So badminton is an Olympic sport?

Yes it is. Badminton was admitted as a full medal sport at the games of the  XXVth Olympiad in Barcelona 1992. The decision was made in 1985 and recognized  the worldwide status of the IBF, which has 138 member countries. Athletes  competed in Men?s and Women?s singles and Men?s and Women?s doubles. At the  Atlanta games mixed doubles was added and the badminton at Atlanta was a  smashing success. From second-hand reports that I've heard it was a very  pleasant surprise to those unfamiliar with badminton that were lucky enough to  be there.

So who won at the Olympics?

The Asian countries dominated, with Indonesia, China, Malaysia and South  Korea sharing most of the medals. Denmark's Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen won one of  the gold medals (men?s singles) to prevent a clean sweep by the Asian  countries. The failure of Indonesia to win any medal in the men?s singles was  considered a sporting disaster in that country. A good analogy would be the US  failing to win a basketball medal.

Are the top athletes professional?

Yes, at the top level you can earn a living playing badminton. The money is  not enormous like in tennis, but if you come from a badminton country then  other money and perks are available aside form tournament earnings. This career  is not recommended though for those who anticipate earning loads of money and  retiring early.

What other international events are there in  badminton?

Aside form the Olympics there are the Thomas and Uber cups (men's and  women's world team championships respectively) held every even year, World  championships and Sudirman cup (world mixed team championships, held every odd  year), Pan American games, US open and a number of Grand Prix tournament around  the world. The Grand Prix tournaments are part of the badminton touring  circuit, similar to the tennis tour. This year (1996-1997) on the tour the  richest tournament is the US Open! Prize money is over $200 000, which is  great, although peanuts compared to the tennis tour prize money.

Have the US always been so bad?

No. The US were a major force in world badminton between 1949 and 1967. In  this time they won 23 world individual championships (All England titles, the  unofficial world championships that is). These were 1 men's singles, 12 women's  singles, 1 men's doubles, 8 women's doubles and 1 mixed doubles. The women's  team also won 3 Uber cup titles (team championships) and in 1955 the top male  player was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Rather ironic considering it was  the women who had the most success.

Who are the best in the world?

At the moment (April 14 1999) Denmark dominates the men?s singles scene with  5 of the world top ten, including Peter Gade at number 1. China have similar  dominance in women?s singles with 6 of the top ten and Zhaoying Ye at the  number 1 spot. Indonesia have the top 4 men?s doubles pair, China and Denmark  dominate the women?s doubles and the mixed doubles is split amongst China,  England, South Korea, Indonesia and Denmark. The US are minnows on the world  badminton circuit. The latest world  rankings (which are released each month) will give you the latest  information.

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