47 Fun Facts About Badminton

In badminton, what happens if one side hits the shuttle twice?

They lose the rally: since 2006 that also gives the other side a point, whereas a serving side's fault used to cost only the serve.

Under 2025 badminton rules, what happens at 29-29 in a game?

A golden point decides it at 30: from 20-all a side needs a two-point lead, so 30-29 is the only game score won by a single point.

Badminton is said to take its name from a country estate in which English county?

Gloucestershire: the dukes of Beaufort's estate there is said to have lent the sport its name, although the game itself grew up among British army officers in India.

At the London 2012 Olympics, eight women's doubles badminton players were ejected for what?

Trying to lose on purpose: the pairs had already reached the knockouts and wanted a more favourable quarter-final draw.

Which ruler did an 1814 British cartoon show as a shuttlecock, mocking him as a plaything for the Allies?

Napoleon Bonaparte: exiled to Elba within weeks of the print, he escaped the next year and briefly retook power.

Thomas Cup founder Sir George Thomas also reached a Wimbledon quarter-final and was twice British champion at what?

Chess: at Hastings in 1934–35 he beat both José Raúl Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik, past and future world champions.

Which racquet brand began in 1946 by making wooden floats for fishing nets?

Yonex: when plastic floats wiped out that trade, founder Minoru Yoneyama switched to making badminton racquets, starting in 1957.

Which paddle sport did a future US congressman and his friends improvise in 1965 on a badminton court?

Pickleball: the Pritchard family dog, Pickles, often gets the credit for the name, but the Pritchards said the dog was named after the game.

In 2019, who became the first Indian to win gold at the BWF World Championships?

P. V. Sindhu: she had lost the 2017 final to Nozomi Okuhara after 110 minutes, then beat Okuhara 21–7, 21–7 in the 2019 final.

Where has the Badminton World Federation been headquartered since 2005?

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: yet none of the nine nations that founded the federation in 1934 was from Asia.

At which Olympics did badminton become a full medal sport?

Barcelona 1992: China, winner of three world titles the year before, left there without a single gold.

Which former Olympic badminton singles champion led the sport's world governing body from 2013 to 2025?

Poul-Erik Høyer: at the Games after his gold he went out in the opening round, and he later sat on the International Olympic Committee too.

In badminton doubles, what happens when the serving pair wins a rally?

Same server, other court: the serve stays with that one player until the opponents win a rally, so partners don't take turns.

Why did badminton's first Thomas Cup take place years later than planned?

The Second World War: Sir George Thomas, then the federation's president, had won backing for the event and donated the trophy in 1939.

Which country had won the Thomas Cup most often, 14 times, by the end of 2024?

Indonesia: in its very first Thomas Cup, in 1958, it beat holders Malaya, the only champion until then.

Badminton's women's world team championship is named after which former British champion?

Betty Uber: she donated the trophy herself, though the first contest for it was not held until 1956–57.

What is badminton's mixed-team world championship, held every two years since 1989, called?

The Sudirman Cup: it was staged alongside the World Championships until the federation made it a separate event from 2003.

What is a shuttlecock also commonly called?

A birdie: even a light breeze blows it off course, which is why competitive badminton is played indoors.

About how much does a regulation feather shuttlecock weigh?

About 5 grams: its feathers create so much drag that a very high serve falls almost straight down at the back.

Which animals usually supply the feathers for shuttlecocks?

Geese or ducks: because feather shuttles break easily, tougher synthetic ones were developed.

How must a badminton serve be hit?

Underarm, sending the shuttle upward: in top doubles most serves are low backhands, meant to stop the receivers attacking at once.

In badminton, what decides whether a player serves from the right or the left service court?

Their own score: it sets the receiver's court too, since the two always stand in diagonally opposite service courts.

Besides being wider, how does a badminton doubles court differ from the singles court?

A shorter service court: its inner back line counts only on the serve, so in a doubles rally the shuttle may land right up to the back boundary.

What is a let in badminton?

A stopped rally replayed with no change in score: a common cause is a shuttle from the next court landing on yours.

What is a shot that travels flat and fast just over the net called?

A drive: in doubles, flat drives let a pair fight for the attack instead of lifting and waiting to defend.

In badminton, when may a player's racquet pass over the net?

On the follow-through after a hit: the shuttle must be struck on the player's own side, and an opponent who blocks that follow-through commits a fault.

In badminton, when a high shuttle arrives in the midcourt, which shot is usually the best choice?

A smash: from the midcourt it can win the rally outright or force a weak reply.

What did the BWF try to make female players wear in 2011 'to ensure attractive presentation'?

Dresses or skirts: drawn up with marketing firm Octagon, the rule was dropped before it could take effect in 2012.

Which Chinese player became the first man to retain an Olympic badminton singles title, at London 2012?

Lin Dan: as top seed at Athens 2004 he lost in the first round, before winning gold in Beijing and London.

Which Malaysian won three straight Olympic silver medals from 2008 to 2016?

Lee Chong Wei: a positive test at the 2014 World Championships cost him that silver medal and an eight-month ban.

Which player won the All England men's singles title a record eight times?

Rudy Hartono: he also won the men's singles at Munich 1972, but badminton was only a demonstration sport there.

Who won badminton's first Olympic women's singles gold, and later married the men's champion from the same Games?

Susi Susanti: four years later, Bang Soo-hyun, whom she beat in that final, knocked her out in the semi-finals and took gold.

Which Chinese doubles player was the first to win four Olympic badminton medals?

Gao Ling: seeking a last gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, she and Zheng Bo, the second seeds, were upset in the first round.

Who won the men's badminton singles gold at the Athens 2004 Olympics?

Taufik Hidayat: four years earlier, at his first Olympics in Sydney, he had gone out in the quarter-finals.

Which Dane won the 1999 All England men's singles title?

Peter Gade: yet he never won an Olympic medal, coming fourth at Sydney 2000 after losing the bronze-medal match.

Who became the first non-Asian woman to win Olympic badminton gold, in Rio 2016?

Carolina Marín: she swapped childhood flamenco dancing for badminton and went on to win three world titles.

Which Dane won back-to-back Olympic men's singles golds in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024?

Viktor Axelsen: in 2021 he moved his family to Dubai, citing no allergies there and shorter trips to Asian events.

Which Taiwanese player, retired in 2025, spent a record 214 weeks as women's singles world number one?

Tai Tzu-ying: for all those weeks on top, she never won Olympic or world gold, taking silver at Tokyo 2020 and the 2021 Worlds.

Which Chinese player won the Olympic women's badminton singles gold in both 2004 and 2008?

Zhang Ning: after retaining her title at 33 in Beijing, she carried China's flag at the closing ceremony.

Which country beat Malaysia 3-2 in the 2014 final to become the fourth men's world team champion?

Japan: in the semi-finals it had stunned defending champions China 3–0, reaching its first final.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's giant 'Shuttlecocks' stand outside an art museum in which US city?

Kansas City: the artists cast the Nelson-Atkins building as the net, with the four shuttlecocks landed on the lawns on either side.

At badminton's first official Olympic tournament, what did beaten semi-finalists receive?

A bronze medal each: from the next Games onward, the two beaten semi-finalists have instead played off for a single bronze.

Which Bollywood star played competitive badminton as a teenager before switching to modelling?

Deepika Padukone: she had followed her father, badminton star Prakash Padukone, into the sport.

What do Germans call the casual backyard version of badminton?

Federball: it means 'feather ball', after the shuttle whose feathers give the game its distinctive flight.

Before carbon-fibre composites, badminton racquets were made of which light metal?

Modern frames go further still, adding nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and fullerenes for durability.

What is the steep downward stroke played when a high shuttle is met in the forecourt?

A net kill: the earlier a player meets the shuttle high above the net, the steeper and more decisive the kill can be.

Which badminton offshoot, first developed in Berlin, is played without a net using a heavier shuttle?

Crossminton: its inventor, Bill Brandes, wanted a racket game that could be played outdoors on almost any surface.