Badminton Trivia
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97 free Badminton trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This badminton trivia quiz starts with a shuttlecock's sixteen goose feathers and ends with a 426 km/h smash. The rules section covers games to 21 and the golden point at 30, service courts, the serve height, court width, net height, lets and why the doubles court is wider but shorter for serving. Then the strokes: clears, drives, tumbling net shots, the dreaded backhand clear and where the power really comes from. History questions trace the game from battledore and shuttlecock in British India, the Poona rules of 1873 and the Duke of Beaufort's house, to the first All England in 1899, the founding of the world federation in 1934 and the Olympic debut at Barcelona 1992. The team events include the Thomas, Uber and Sudirman Cups, and the players run from Rudy Hartono and Susi Susanti through Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Taufik Hidayat, Gao Ling and Zhang Ning to Carolina Marín, Tai Tzu-ying and Viktor Axelsen. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on badminton, the shuttlecock, its federation, tournaments and individual players, and each explanation adds one detail worth remembering. BrainPickle has separate quizzes on tennis, table tennis and the Olympics.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In badminton, what happens if one side hits the shuttle twice?
They lose the rally
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.
Q 02Under 2025 badminton rules, what happens at 29-29 in a game?
A golden point decides it at 30
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.
Q 03Badminton is said to take its name from a country estate in which English county?
Gloucestershire
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.
Q 04At the London 2012 Olympics, eight women's doubles badminton players were ejected for what?
Trying to lose on purpose
Trying to lose on purpose: the pairs had already reached the knockouts and wanted a more favourable quarter-final draw.
Q 05Which ruler did an 1814 British cartoon show as a shuttlecock, mocking him as a plaything for the Allies?
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte: exiled to Elba within weeks of the print, he escaped the next year and briefly retook power.
Q 06Thomas Cup founder Sir George Thomas also reached a Wimbledon quarter-final and was twice British champion at what?
Chess
Chess: at Hastings in 1934–35 he beat both José Raúl Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik, past and future world champions.
Q 07Which racquet brand began in 1946 by making wooden floats for fishing nets?
Yonex
Yonex: when plastic floats wiped out that trade, founder Minoru Yoneyama switched to making badminton racquets, starting in 1957.
Q 08Which paddle sport did a future US congressman and his friends improvise in 1965 on a badminton court?
Pickleball
Pickleball: the Pritchard family dog, Pickles, often gets the credit for the name, but the Pritchards said the dog was named after the game.
Q 09In 2019, who became the first Indian to win gold at the BWF World Championships?
P. V. Sindhu
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.
Q 10Where has the Badminton World Federation been headquartered since 2005?
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: yet none of the nine nations that founded the federation in 1934 was from Asia.
Q 11At which Olympics did badminton become a full medal sport?
Barcelona 1992
Barcelona 1992: China, winner of three world titles the year before, left there without a single gold.
Q 12Which former Olympic badminton singles champion led the sport's world governing body from 2013 to 2025?
Poul-Erik Høyer
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.
Q 13In badminton doubles, what happens when the serving pair wins a rally?
Same server, other court
Same server, other court: the serve stays with that one player until the opponents win a rally, so partners don't take turns.
Q 21How must a badminton serve be hit?
Underarm, sending the shuttle upward
Underarm, sending the shuttle upward: in top doubles most serves are low backhands, meant to stop the receivers attacking at once.
Q 22In badminton, what decides whether a player serves from the right or the left service court?
Their own score
Their own score: it sets the receiver's court too, since the two always stand in diagonally opposite service courts.
Q 23Besides being wider, how does a badminton doubles court differ from the singles court?
A shorter service court
Q 14Why did badminton's first Thomas Cup take place years later than planned?
The Second World War
The Second World War: Sir George Thomas, then the federation's president, had won backing for the event and donated the trophy in 1939.
Q 15Which country had won the Thomas Cup most often, 14 times, by the end of 2024?
Indonesia
Indonesia: in its very first Thomas Cup, in 1958, it beat holders Malaya, the only champion until then.
Q 16Badminton's women's world team championship is named after which former British champion?
Betty Uber
Betty Uber: she donated the trophy herself, though the first contest for it was not held until 1956–57.
Q 17What is badminton's mixed-team world championship, held every two years since 1989, called?
The Sudirman Cup
The Sudirman Cup: it was staged alongside the World Championships until the federation made it a separate event from 2003.
Q 18What is a shuttlecock also commonly called?
A birdie
A birdie: even a light breeze blows it off course, which is why competitive badminton is played indoors.
Q 19About how much does a regulation feather shuttlecock weigh?
About 5 grams
About 5 grams: its feathers create so much drag that a very high serve falls almost straight down at the back.
Q 20Which animals usually supply the feathers for shuttlecocks?
Geese or ducks
Geese or ducks: because feather shuttles break easily, tougher synthetic ones were developed.
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.
Q 24What is a let in badminton?
A stopped rally replayed with no change in score
A stopped rally replayed with no change in score: a common cause is a shuttle from the next court landing on yours.
Q 25What is a shot that travels flat and fast just over the net called?
A drive
A drive: in doubles, flat drives let a pair fight for the attack instead of lifting and waiting to defend.
Q 26In badminton, when may a player's racquet pass over the net?
On the follow-through after a hit
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.
Q 27In badminton, when a high shuttle arrives in the midcourt, which shot is usually the best choice?
A smash
A smash: from the midcourt it can win the rally outright or force a weak reply.
Q 28What did the BWF try to make female players wear in 2011 'to ensure attractive presentation'?
Dresses or skirts
Dresses or skirts: drawn up with marketing firm Octagon, the rule was dropped before it could take effect in 2012.
Q 29Which Chinese player became the first man to retain an Olympic badminton singles title, at London 2012?
Lin Dan
Lin Dan: as top seed at Athens 2004 he lost in the first round, before winning gold in Beijing and London.
Q 30Which Malaysian won three straight Olympic silver medals from 2008 to 2016?
Lee Chong Wei
Lee Chong Wei: a positive test at the 2014 World Championships cost him that silver medal and an eight-month ban.