Summer Obscure Sports: Badminton

As we go through the summer, we are going to highlight some of the traditional summer sports which are unique and obscure to most sports fans. 

This week we will look at the sport of badminton.

Badminton is a sport which is similar to tennis but played with a racquet where players alternate in hitting a shuttlecock across a net. Instead of a ball, badminton is unique using the shuttlecock which is a cone-shaped item formed by feather or plastic and embedded into a rounded cork (or rubber) base.  

The earliest origin of the sport dates back to the mid-19th century in British India.  I won't go into the technical details of the sport.  You can read more about that on Wikipedia.  

In the United States the first badminton club was formed in New York in 1878, During the 1930s, badminton had become a popular sport in the United States. Establishments such as the YMCA, universities and more all formed badminton clubs and the popularity of the sport began to take growth.

Badminton is mostly a backyard recreational sport in the United States but there was an attempt to create a professional league from 2010-2015 with the World Professional Badminton League.  Teams in this league were the Los Angeles Strings, New York Netters, Copenhagen Castles (Denmark), Vancouver Velocity, Indiana Racquets, San Diego Admirals, Orlando Lightning and Calgary.  There has been no other known professional league for the sport.  Other professional badminton leagues have been organized in England with the National Badminton League (NBL) which lasted from 2014-2017 and the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in India from 2016-2020.  

This past March, UBX World Corporation announced plans to create a professional league with eight teams to launch in the summer of 2024.  You can follow the league here.

The most popular countries for badminton are China, India and Denmark.

Badminton made its debut as a demonstration sport at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It was not until the 1992 Games in Barcelona that it was officially included on the Olympic programm, with men’s and women’s singles and doubles events. The mixed doubles event made its debut in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Since then, the number of events has remained unchanged.  China is the most dominant country in the Olympics winning 20 gold medals. 

The global governing body of badminton is the Badminton World Federation (BWF).  Here are the current top players in the world:

• Men's Singles:  Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)
• Women's Singles:  Akane Yamaguchi (Japan)
• Men's Doubles:  Fajar Alfian & Muhammad Rian Ardianto (Indonesia)
• Women's Doubles:  Ching Qing Chen & Jia Yi Fan (China)
• Mixed Doubles:  Zheng Si Wei & Huang Ya Qiong (China)

USA Badminton is the governing body for the sport in the United States.   The top U.S. players are Howard Shu, Justin Ma and Enrico Asuncion.   

Badminton is not a popular sport in the United States for several reasons. One of the main reasons is that badminton in the U.S. is seen as a backyard sport. Due to this, the sport has not grown much. Another reason is the lack of Olympic success by American athletes. This lack of success is another reason why the sport has not grown in comparison to other sports. Finally, wages are a huge reason why badminton has not gown. Badminton fails to receive substantial media attention in the United States and with that comes low wages. Participants can earn up to $15,000 for winning a championship.

Other types of badminton include:

• Ball Badminton - played with a yellow ball made of wool.
• Hanetsuki - is a traditional Japanese variation of badminton played without a net with a rectangular wooden paddle and a brightly colored shuttlecock.
• Crossminton - Combines elements of badminton, squash and tennis.  It is played without a net and no prescribed playground.

Badminton is not a sanctioned sport in the NCAA but many colleges and universities field club badminton teams.  

In the United States it is estimated that over 1 million people frequently play badminton throughout the year.