Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world and has quickly cemented itself as a popular part of the Olympic schedule.
The sport made its Olympic debut as a demonstration event in the Munich 1972 Olympic Games before joining the programme full-time in Barcelona 1992.
Team GB saw mixed doubles success in the early 2000s as Simon Archer and Joanne Goode clinched bronze at Sydney 2000 before Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson went one step further with silver in Athens.
Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge added to the total with men's doubles bronze at Rio 2016.
How many games are there in an Olympic badminton match?
All singles and doubles badminton matches consist of a best-of-three format.
If both sides win one game each, the match will go to a third game to act as a decider.
How do you win a badminton game?
The first side to win 21 points wins that game.
A point is scored on every serve and awarded to the player who wins the rally. That player will then serve for the next rally.
One side must win by two points or more to win the game. Therefore, if a game reaches 20-20, the winner must reach at least 22 points.
If a game reaches 29-29, the winner will be the first athlete to reach 30 points.
How long is a badminton match?
A badminton match is typically around 45 minutes long on average.
Each match will depend on the length of a rally and whether the match is forced to a third game.
What are the rules of serving in badminton?
Players serve diagonally into their opponents service box.
The athlete serves from the right hand service court at the start of the competition and every time they serve with an even number of points.
If a player has an odd number of points, they will serve from the left service box.
The winner of the previous point will be the server for the next rally, therefore, if a player wins multiple points in a row they will continue to serve throughout.
The serve must go over the first horizontal line on each side of the court (the service line).
In doubles, the server will start on the right-hand side and keep serving, while alternating sides with their teammate, so long as they keep winning points.
The teammate will take over serving once the duo have lost a rally and then resumed service once more by winning another point.
Do you have to serve underhand in badminton?
Yes. All serves must be underhand in badminton, with the entire shuttle under the servers waist on contact with the racket.
What are the different court boundaries in badminton?
In singles, a badminton court is 44ft (13.41m) long and 17ft (5.18m) wide. The width extends to 20ft (6.1m) in doubles.
Though similar in layout, a badminton court is smaller than a tennis court, which measures 78ft (23.77m) long and 27ft (8.23m) wide, extending to 36ft (10.97m) for doubles.
The court dimensions are defined by white lines on the floor.
If the shuttlecock lands on the service lines during play and then bounces out, it is ruled as in.
What is the Olympic competition format in badminton? Five badminton events are contested at the Olympics, consisting of: men’s and women's singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Each event is a single-elimination tournament, with the top eight players or pairs seeded. Men's and women's singles events consist of a preliminary round, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, whilst the doubles jump from the preliminary round to the quarter-finals.
What is a fault in badminton?
A fault is what usually ends a rally and will lead to a point going to the opposing player.
Faults in badminton can include:
Missing the shuttle on the first serve
The shuttle lands outside the court
The shuttle passes through, goes under or fails to pass over the net
An athlete hits the shuttle twice in succession
An athlete touches the net with their racket or person
What is a let in badminton?
Lets are less common than faults in badminton and mean that play stops and the rally is replayed without changing the score or positions.
Reasons for a let can include:
No one is sure if the shuttle landed in or out of the correct boundaries
During a rally, a shuttle from another court is hit into your court
The reciever was not ready for the serve
Sportsbeat 2024