The Game of Badminton

Badminton is a court or lawn game played with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock, a small, cork hemisphere with 14 to 16 feathers attached and weighing about 80 grains (0.17-ounce [5 g]). A nylon shuttlecock with the apron furnished by feathers is also used. The game is named for Badminton, the country estate of the dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England, where it was first played in about 1873. It may have started much earlier in India. In the 1860s British army officers stationed there reportedly played the game out of doors and called it poona. Ultimately, badminton derives from an old children's game, battledore and shuttlecock.
The first unofficial All-England badminton championships for men were held in 1899, and the first badminton tournament for women was arranged the next year. The International Badminton Federation (IBF), world governing body of the sport, was formed in 1934. Its headquarters are in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Eng. Badminton is also popular in Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and Denmark. A number of regional, national, and zonal badminton tournaments are held in several countries. The best known of these matches is the All-England Championships. Other well-known international tournaments include the Thomas Cup (donated 1939) for men's team competition and the Uber Cup (donated 1956) for women's team competition. Badminton first appeared in the Olympic Games as a demonstration sport in 1972 and as an exhibition sport in 1988. At the 1992 Games it became a full-medal Olympic sport, with competition for men's and women's singles (one against one) and doubles (two against two).