badminton article
Badminton is one of the oldest sports in the world. It has a long history that
started from one country and spread to another and then to the whole
world. It also has a social history as it was an upper class activity
before it became a competitive sport.
Battledore and shuttlecock is the first name of the game and it was
first seen in ancient Greece more than 2000 years ago. That’s a long
time ago. In 1870 Duke of Beaufort showed an increased interest at the
game that now took the name badminton. Long ago in the UK, children
still used to play the game battledore and shuttlecock. They took a
battledore, which was something like a paddle and tried to keep the
shuttlecock in the air by throwing it to each other without letting it
fall. The shuttlecock of that time shows many similarities with now as
it was a piece of cork with added feathers. The cork was used because it
was light and the feathers helped it move rapidly. This version of the
game was first seen in medieval times in British India and then moved
to the UK and then back again to India were it was very popular.
In 1893 the first set of rules were published in Great Britain and were
all based on the English culture. They were minor adjustments of how
the game should be played that were closer to Britain and a little
different than the Indian version played so far. However, printing the
rules also made the game official and the first badminton competition
was held in 1899 and was the famous All England Open Championships. A
few years later, countries of Europe were added to the federation of the
game and India was also an affiliate member.
In the United States the history started in 1878 when the first
badminton club was founded in New York. As the sport had many famous
stars that preferred it, it soon became very popular to others as well.
In 1936 the first set of rules and regulations for the US version of
the game was established again giving it a character closer to the
culture of the players. In 1937 the first official competition was held
and famous player David Freeman from the states started his career, a
player who later won the All England World Championships. Between 1949
and 1967 the US won twenty three world championships that showed the
popularity of the game and the fact that there were some dedicated
players there.
The game of badminton has definite origins in England and England and
the US dominated the sport for the first several years of existence.
However, the last decades many Asian countries as well as Denmark have
embraced the sport and revealed many athletes that are talented and won
gold medals in championships. Malaysia, South Korea and China have all
achieved to be in the first places and win gold championships. Many
famous players of our times also come from these countries.