Having evolved through as many as three names before being satisfied with
`badminton’ - the game of hitting the shuttle to the opponents’ court has a
family lineage difficult to comprehend. So confusing that many historians have already
washed their hands off.
In 5th century BC, the
Chinese people entertained themselves with Ti Jian Zi, (shuttle-kicking if translated in
real terms). The idea was to kick the shuttle into the opponents court, albeit with the
feet.
 Five centuries hence, the
shuttles were present, but the game had changed. Barring the shuttle, there was nothing
common between battledore and shuttlecock, two versions that raised their heads in China,
Japan, India and Greece.
Battledores were the
earliest versions of the present day racquets. By the start of the 16th century battledore
and shuttlecock had developed into a popular children's game.
Slowly but steadily it
became a favorite pastime of the elite in many European countries. With travel its name
changed. In the European continent it became popular as jeu de volant.
The military establishment
in Poona saw the emergence of a similar game. With its similarity with the present day
badminton, nobody can gainsay its instant popularity. Poona, the name given to this new
pastime for the British army officers evolved around the mid-19th century.
Even as the sport started
spreading, the Duke of Beauford introduced it to the royal society at his country estate
Badminton House in Gloucestershire, England.
Since the sport demanded
agility and yet could be played anywhere, it became an instant hit with the locals. In
four years time, the Bath Badminton Club had been formed, and a strong basis for today's
rules were laid.
 From the mid-19th century, to the end of the century, the sport took its time to
flourish. In a couple of years badminton associations were formed in England, Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand and France.
In the year 1934,
International Badminton Federation (IBF) was born, with a membership of nine countries.
Some of the prominent countries to join the federation later were India, Australia and the
United States.
Maybe because it was the
origin place for badminton or just that it comes to them easily, the Asians have always
dominated the badminton scene. So much so, since the IBF started conducting tournaments
(1934), China and Indonesia have won 70 per cent of all the titles. When we look into this
record let us not forget that 131 other countries also belong to the federation.
The development in
badminton reached a crescendo when it was staged as a demonstration sport in the Munich
Olympic Games in 1972. Asian domination continued as Li Lingwei and Han Aiping of China
demonstrated to this World the intricacies of the sport. During the 1980s, they had won
six women's World Cups, six Grand Prix singles titles and 63 championships between them.
After becoming the
exhibition sport in Seoul Olympics in 1988, it was given the full medal status in 1992 at
Barcelona. But both Li Lingwei and Han Aiping had retired by then.
At the 1996 Atlanta Games,
Asia won 14 of the 15 badminton medals at stake. The only non-Asian medal winner was
Poul-Erik Hoyer-Larsen from Denmark, who shocked the World with a gold medal in the men's
singles. |
