Knowing Badminton

Today we going to talk about a Olympic sport, who is very famous mainly in the Eastern Europe, but here in America isn't that famous. Since it was implanted on 92 Olympics, the sport wins space. Badminton. Can be practice individually or in pairs, looks like tennis, the badminton is played with a racket and instead of the ball, it uses a type of shuttlecock (also called birdie). Skills such as agility, physical strength, reflexes, speed, flexibility and endurance are essential for the practice of this sport. British military knew this game in India and there was called ‘Poona’, it was during the English colonization in century XIX.

The official version of the game appeared in 1873 through the English duke of Beaufort. It is said that this game was played by the Duke of Beaufort's daughters in a drawing-room of the family's home, which was called Badminton House. In spite of everything, it was even in India that this game turned into a real sport. When the English Colonel H. O. Selby created rules and labels, which eventually became widely accepted. Only in 1870 that the name of this sport happened to be Badminton. For almost a decade the Badminton was practiced, amateur, in the places where there were military groupings.

The purpose of the game is very similar to that of tennis, but instead of a ball, athletes must throw a shuttlecock to the opposing side without allowing it to touch the ground. The one who lets it touch the ground misses the point.

Tennis X Badminton:

The statistics do not lie, see this comparison between a tennis game (Boris Becker X Kevin Curren for the All England Championship) and a badminton game (Han Jian X Morten Frost for World Badminton Championship):

To make the shuttlecock Etouch the opponent's field passing over the network, is the goal of the game. Every time this happens a point is counted. The match is divided in three parts of 21 points, who wins two or three parts wins the match. If there is a tie 20-20, the winner will have a difference of two points first. The exception only occurs if the score reaches the tie of 29 to 29, will win who reaches the thirty points. The match is directed by thirteen referees, one being the Referee General, one Main Referee, one Referee of service and ten line judges.

It is considered foul if the player encounters in the net, the shuttle meets in the body or occurs invasion of the opponent's space. It is not allowed to give two consecutive touches on the shuttle on the same side of the court.

Main beats:

- Drop shot: short strike in which the shuttlecock falls to the net.

- Lob: A long, hard beat in which the shuttlecock covers the opposing player.

- Drive: fast beat and parallel to the ground.

- Smash: similar to the cut of Volleyball. It is a fast and strong strike on the shuttlecock, from the top down.