RULES

Badminton is a racket sport played using rackets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. The modern game of badminton developed in the mid-19th century in British India as a variant of the earlier game of battledore and shuttlecock. ("Battledore" was an older term for "racket".).

The shuttlecock is a feathered or (in informal matches) plastic projectile which flies differently from the balls used in many other sports. In particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly.

        Shuttlecocks                                      Badminton racket

The most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players per side).

 
           Doubles                                                        Singles

 

The court is rectangular and divided into halves by a net. The doubles court is wider than the singles court, but both are of the same length. The full width of the court is 6.1 metres, and in singles this width is reduced to 5.18 metres. The full length of the court is 13.4 metres.

The service courts are marked by a centre line dividing the width of the court (green), by a short service line at a distance of 1.98 metres from the net (red), and by the outer side and back boundaries (blue). The net is 1.55 metres high.

 

 

 RULES:

Serving

When the player serves, the shuttlecock must pass over the short service on the opponents' court or it will count as a fault. The server and receiver must remain within their service courts, without touching the boundary lines, until the server strikes the shuttlecock.

At the start of the rally, the server and receiver stand in diagonally opposite service courts. The server hits the shuttlecock so that it would land in the receiver's service court.

In singles, the server stands in their right service court when their score is even, and in their left service court when their score is odd. (see the picture below).

                Server’s score is even                                         Server’s score is odd

The whole shuttlecock must be below 1.15 metres from the surface of the court (below the waist) at the instant of being hit by the server's racket,

 

  

Scoring

Points are scored by striking the shuttlecock with the racket and landing it within the opposing side's half of the court.

Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. Play ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor or if a fault has been called.

A match is the best of three games (the winner is the player who first wins 2 sets).

Each game is played to 21 points, with players scoring a point whenever they win a rally regardless of whether they served.

If the score reaches 20-all (both players have 20 points), then the game continues until one side gains a two-point lead (such as 24–22), except when there is a tie at 29-all, in which the game goes to a golden point. Whoever scores this point will win.

TECHNIQUE

BADMINTON STROKES

Badminton offers a wide variety of basic strokes, and players require a high level of skill to perform all of them effectively. However, we are going to simplify this in just four cathegories:

• Forehand.
• Backhand.
• Overhead.
• Underhand.

The choice of stroke depends on how near the shuttlecock is to the net, whether it is above net height, and where an opponent is currently positioned.

 

Forehand and backhand.

 

All strokes can be played either forehand or backhand. A player's forehand side is the same side as their playing hand: for a right-handed player, the forehand side is their right side and the backhand side is their left side. Forehand strokes are hit with the front of the hand leading (like hitting with the palm), whereas backhand strokes are hit with the back of the hand leading (like hitting with the knuckles).

 

Backhand                             Forehand

 

Overhead and underhand.

 

When the shuttlecock is well below net height, players have no choice but to hit upwards back to the opponents' court with the underhand technique.

  

When the shuttlecock is above net height, players will hit with the overhead technique.