The document provides a detailed history of the origins and development of the sport of badminton over thousands of years. It traces the earliest versions of the game back to ancient Greece, China, and India. The modern game of badminton originated in the 19th century in England and was named after Badminton House in Gloucestershire. The International Badminton Federation was formed in 1934 and helped establish international tournaments and rules. Badminton gained popularity and Olympic status in the late 20th century.

1. Jomari A. Bartiana2nd year BSIT<br />THE HISTORY OF BADMINTON<br />The origins of the game of badminton date back at least two thousand years to the game of battledore and shuttlecock played in ancient Greece, China and India.<br />A very long history for one of the Olympics newest sports! Badminton took its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the ancestral home of the Duke of Beaufort, where the sport was played in the last century. Gloucestershire is now the base for the International Badminton Federation.<br />The IBF was formed in 1934 with 9 members – Canada, Denmark, ,France, Netherlands, England, New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The United States joined 4 years later. Membership increased steadily over the next few years with a surge in new members after the Olympic Games debut at Barcelona.<br />The 1st big IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup (Men’s world team championships) in 1948. Since then, the number of world events has increased to 7, with the addition of the Uber Cup (ladies’ team), World Championships, Sudirman Cup (mixed team), World Juniors, World Grand Prix Finals and the World Cup.The World Cup invitational event started in 1981 and is organized by the International Management Group (IMG). The World Cup series is due to end in 1997 and the IBF is considering organizing exhibition matches featuring the world’s top players to replace the World Cup.<br />For the recent Thomas & Uber Cups in Hong Kong, the sale of commercial and television rights was a multi-million dollar contract. And it’s not just in Asia. In Europe, also, there’s a growing number of companies bidding for rights. Television companies world-wide are already buying exclusive rights to the 1997 World Championships, to be held in Glasgow, Scotland.<br />A turning point in badminton’s growth was the $20 million tripartite contract in 1994 for sponsorship of the World Grand Prix Finals. Under the terms of the deal between the IBF, IMG and STAR TV, STAR injects the monies into the promotion and development of badminton. In return STAR gains total exclusivity for the exploitation of the commercial and television rights to the WGP Finals. “The deal was good for both main parties”, said David Shaw, IBF’s Executive Director, who was brought into the organization with a brief to grow the sport. “We needed a strong partner in television, and the broadcaster had identified badminton as a vehicle which would attract audiences across Asia to its Prime Sports Channel”.<br />The next phase in the rise and rise of international badminton has been to retake the USA. The US was an early member of the IBF and initially one of the most successful. When the Uber Cup was introduced in 1956, Americans won the first three events. But then interest waned.<br />Badminton is a well liked and familiar sport in the USA, but predominantly is usually played as a fun game in the back yard or on the beach. We know that once Americans see the other badminton – international badminton, the world’s fastest racket sport – they will want to see and play more. The Atlanta Olympics started to raise the sport’s profile in the US. The event was a sell-out and became one of the “must-see” sports. Ex-President Jimmy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, Paul Newman and Princess Anne were among the celebrities who came to watch. David Broder of the Washington Post reported: “seeing one of the supreme athletic spectacles of my life”.<br />1996 was a landmark in USA badminton. It’s not only the Atlanta Olympic Games that started to generate tremendous interest in the US market. In December 1995 the IBF introduced a new concept tournament in California, the Hong Ta Shan Cup; a men’s invitation tournament with the best players and big prize money. There are now plans plans to add a women’s event and to increase the prize money. The Hongtashan Group has gone on to sponsor the US Open, increasing the prize money to $200,000 . This makes the event the most valuable World Grand Prix event in the series and gives it six-star status.<br />The degree of change is increasing. Badminton’s debut as an Olympic Games sport has manifestly boosted interest internationally. The STAR TV agreement has increased the sport’s coverage dramatically. Sponsors and television companies are being attracted to a sport which gives them access to the Asian economies. And, spectators are increasingly attracted to the “exciting mix of angles, tactics, touch, reaction and fitness that would exhaust a squash champion.<br />The history of badminton can be traced back many to the games of battledore and shuttlecock which were played in ancient Greece over 2000 years ago. The game we all know as badminton began in the 19th century (1870) and was named by the Duke of Beaufort after Badminton House in Gloucestershire1. The International Badminton Federation now has its base in Gloucestershire.<br />In England there had long been a children's game known as quot;
battledore and shuttlecockquot;
. Players used a paddle, called a battledore, to keep a cork stuffed with feathers, called a shuttlecock, in the air for as long as possible. This game had been popular since medieval times. The modern version had migrated somehow to India and then back again.<br />Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks, which also helped to promote the sport in the 1930s.<br />The different badminton groups throughout the Untied States got together to standardize the rules and regulations of the game in 1936. 1937 saw the first ABA championships and a year later it became a member of the International Badminton Federation.<br />The United States singles player, David Freeman, won the All England World Championships in 1949, while the All England World Championship doubles were won the same year by the American players Clinton and Patsy Stevens, although the All-England Championships were considered the unofficial world championships until 1977.<br />Between 1949 and 1967 the United States won 23 world championships and much acclaimed success in world rankings.<br />Although the history of badminton originated in England this international sport has been largely dominated by Asian countries and Denmark over the last few decades. Countries including South Korea, Malaysia, China and Indonesia have all produced world class players. China is currently the strongest badminton country, winning many major championships consistently over the last few years.<br />In the 5th century BC, the people in china then played a game called ti jian zi. A direct translation from this word 'ti jian zi' is kicking the shuttle. As the name suggest, the objective of the game is to keep the shuttle from hitting the ground without using hand. Whether this sport has anything to do with the History of Badminton is up for debate. It was however the first game that uses a Shuttle.About five centuries later, a game named Battledore and Shuttlecockwas played in china, Japan, India and Greece. This is a game where you use the Battledore (a paddle) to hit the Shuttlecock back and forth. By the 16th century, it has become a popular game among children in England. In Europe this game was known as jeu de volant to them. In the 1860s, a game named Poona was played in India. This game is much like the Battledore and Shuttlecock but with an added net. The British army learned this game in India and took the equipments back to England during the 1870s.In 1873, the Duke of Beaufort held a lawn party in his country place, Badminton. A game of Poona was played on that day and became popular among the British society's elite. The new party sport became known as quot;
the Badminton gamequot;
. In 1877, the Bath Badminton Club was formed and developed the first official set of rules.The International Badminton Federation (IBF) was formed in 1934 with 9 founding members.- England- Ireland- Scotland- Wales- Denmark- Holland- Canada- New Zealand- FranceSince then, major international tournaments like the Thomas Cup (Men)and HYPERLINK quot;
http://www.badminton-information.com/uber_cup.htmlquot;
Uber Cup (Women) were held. Badminton was officially granted Olympic status in the 1992 Barcelona Games. From 9 founding members, IBF now have over 150 member countries. The future of Badminton looks bright indeed.I believe you have a far better understanding on the History of Badminton now.<br />Like all the other sports, Badminton was not invented overnight. In fact, it is not possible to trace the birth of a game or its transformation into a sport to a specific historical or geographical context with any precision. A game’s invention happens over time, undergoing continual modification according to particular circumstances. However, it is just as erroneous to believe in a single and eternal game, historically untraceable, which Adam and Eve would have played to pass the time. It’s the same with the fallacious legend of the invention of modern badminton at The Duke of Beaufort’s Gloucestershire home “Badminton House”when guests at a dinner stuck goose quills in champagne corks and began batting them across the table.The circumstances linked to game's evolution form such an entangled mess that it is futile to try to unravel them completely. However, this complexity cannot be ignored. It is important to attempt to reconstruct, demystify and analyse it in order to trace the origins of a sport, understand the changes in its evolution and explain its contemporary physical and cultural characteristics. Badminton is no exception, on the contrary. The idea that it sprung to life suddenly in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and that like most other modern sports the British invented it is oversimplified.In fact it is both true and false. It is true insofar as the game of Badminton as we know it today is very similar to the game played with a net, invented and developed by a handful of British officers at the turn of the century. It is false however if one considers its social and historical context, and the technical similarities which link it unmistakably to the “battledore and shuttlecock” game, an English and French recreational activity about which there are many references as far back as the fifteenth century.We must not overlook the games played with shuttlecock on other continents with the hand, the foot or a bat, and which also played an important role in defining the modern sport. Badminton’s development is therefore not linear. It is especially clouded by mysterious aspects that can partially explain its relative anonymity or at least the modest amount of media attention it generates in some parts of the world. With such a rich and varied background history, spanning from France to Japan or from China to North America, Badminton could be one of the most ancient and universal of sports. For this reason it was necessary to have a complete overview of its history focusing on its various stages of development rather than concentrating on technical or regulatory aspects.Finally, the story will be dealing with the international recognition symbolised by its status as an Olympic sport, which for many has confirmed the universal dimension of Badminton. <br />