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information and facts about badminton
Badminton is a game that is said to have originated in India as an adult version of a very old children's game known in England as shuttlecock and battledore, the battledore being a paddle and the shuttlecock a feathered cork, now usually balled a "bird." Played for centuries by children in India, Siam, and Japan, this was a cooperative game in which the players worked together to keep the "bird" in the air for as long as possible.
A net was included and the game had become a competitive sport called "poona" by the 1860s, when British Army officers were playing it in India. Some of them brought equipment back to England and introduced the new sport there during the early 1870s. The Bath Badminton Club, organized in 1877, developed the first written rules, which have remained essentially the same. In 1893, the Badminton Association of England was founded as the first national governing body and the first All-England championship was held in 1899. The game was played at a lawn party held by Duke of Beaufort at his country place, Badminton, in 1873, and it became known as "the Badminton game" among various guests who introduced it to other friends. The IBF was founded in 1934 with nine members - Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. The USA joined four years later. Membership grew steadily over the following years with a surge in new members after badminton's Olympic debut at Barcelona. As the sport's development program grows, the current 130 members is expected to increase further. |
The first major IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup (world men's team championships) in 1948. Since then, the number of world events has increased to 7 , with the addition of the Uber Cup (ladies' team), World Championships, Sudirman Cup (mixed team), World Juniors, the World Cup and World Grand Prix Finals. The World Cup invitational event started in 1981 and is organized by the International Management Group (IMG). The World Cup series is due to end in 1997 and the IBF is considering organizing exhibition matches featuring the world's top players to replace the World Cup.
IBF's relationship with IMG started with the organization of the World Cup but has developed to include the sale of commercial and television rights at many IBF events. In these days of mass communications, the importance of television to a world sport is self-evident. Television brings the action, the excitement, the explosive power of badminton into homes around the world. It pulls in the crowd to see the action live; it pulls in the big guys in the sponsorship league.
A watershed in badminton's growth was the $20 million tripartite
contract in 1994 for sponsorship of the World Grand Prix Finals. Under
the terms of the deal between the IBF, IMG and STAR TV, STAR injects the
monies into the promotion and development of badminton. In return STAR
gains total exclusivity for the exploitation of the commercial and
television rights to the WGP Finals. "The deal was good for both main
parties", said David Shaw, IBF's Executive Director, who was brought
into the organization with a brief to grow the sport. "We needed a
strong partner in television, and the broadcaster had identified
badminton as a vehicle which would attract audiences across Asia to its
Prime Sports Channel".
The next phase in the rise and rise of international badminton has been
to retake the USA. The US was an early member of the IBF and initially
one of the most successful. When the Uber Cup was introduced in 1956,
Americans won the first three events. But then interest died out.
Badminton is a popular and well-liked sport in the US, but
predominantly is a fun game in the back yard or on the beach. We know
that once Americans see the other badminton - international badminton,
the world's fastest racket sport - they will want more. The Atlanta
Olympics started to raise the sport's profile in the US. The event was a
sell-out and became one of the "must-see" sports. Ex-President Jimmy
Carter, Chelsea Clinton, Princess Anne and Paul Newman were among the
celebrities who came to watch. David Broder of the Washington Post also
came. After seeing the men's doubles finals, he reported: "seeing one of
the supreme athletic spectacles of my life".
1996 was a watershed in American badminton. It's not only the Atlanta
Olympic Games that started to generate massive interest in the American
market. In December 1995 the IBF introduced a brand new tournament in
California, the Hong Ta Shan Cup; a men's invitational event with top
players and big prize money.
The rate of change is increasing. Badminton's debut as an Olympic sport
has clearly boosted interest internationally. The STAR TV deal has
increased the sport's coverage. Sponsors and television companies are
increasingly attracted to a sport which gives them access to the Asian
economies. And, spectators are increasingly attracted to the
"enthralling mix of angles, tactics, reaction, touch and fitness that
would exhaust a squash champion.
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