Complete Rules of Badminton. Everything You Need to Know

Badminton is said to be a rather popular kind of sport in Asian countries, with the best players originated from China and India. Also, it is an inevitable part of the Summer Olympic games. The sport has a long history dating back to the 16th century. That is why there are a lot of peculiar moments, and the given article is going to explain all of them.

Main Terms

Match – a competition between badminton players; consists of 2-3 games.

Game – a part of a badminton match; a player who wins in 2 of 3 games wins in a match; consists of numerous rallies.

Rally – a part of a match that starts when one player hits a shuttlecock with a racket and ends when a shuttle lands a field.

Shuttlecock – a thing made of natural or/and synthetic materials; the only necessary thing is that its performance should be close to that of a shuttlecock made of feathers embedded into a rounded cork or rubber base.

Racket – a special tool to hit a shuttlecock with.

Single – a badminton match played between two opponents, either men or women.

Double – a badminton match played between two teams of either two men or two women in each.

Mixed Doubles – a badminton match played between two teams with one man and one woman in each.

Serving Side – a player who is the first to hit a shuttlecock in a rally.

Receiving Side – a competitor of a server.

Basics

The main goal of the given kind of sport is to hit a shuttlecock with a racket so that it goes over a net to land inside opponent’s court. A player who manages to do this is said to win a rally. In order to win a game, a player has to win 21 rallies. In case if both opponents have won 20 rallies, a game is won be a player who manages to get two points ahead of the opponent. If the competitors reach the score of 29-29, a player who reaches 30 points is said to be a winner of the game.

A rally can be also won if your opponent hits the net with a shuttlecock, hits it under the net or sends it out of your court. So, if you see that the shuttlecock is going to land out of your court, it is better to let it fall. In this case, you will be a winner of a rally.

Here, it is necessary to mention the main differences concerning badminton and other kinds of sport. As soon as the shuttlecock touches a field, a rally is over, which is quite different from tennis where the ball may bounce one time before a player hits it. Another significant difference relates to volleyball where a team is allowed to touch the ball a certain number of times before sending it to the opponents. In badminton, however, each side is allowed to touch the shuttlecock only once before it goes over the net.

Court Dimensions

It should be mentioned at once that badminton court dimensions differ for singles and doubles. To be more exact, a single is played on the court with dimensions of 13.4*5.18m, while doubles on that of 13.4*6.1m. It should be clear that doubles need more space for the play. In the center of the court, one can find the net 1.5m tall. The courts are usually covered by various synthetic materials that feature different physical characteristics.

The strict segmentation of the court is possible thanks to various lines. More often than not, a new person to the sport will be confused by these lines and their meaning but some experienced players and fans know exactly what each of them means.

Serving

As it is clear, serving is a great advantage in various sports, and badminton is no exception. In order to apply certain limits to this advantage, players are bound to follow strict rules while serving. The outer lines mean the furthermost boundaries of a court. Each player is allowed to serve either from a right or left part of a court. This part is defined by the outer line, the short service line that is 1.98m from the net, and the central line that divides the court in length. So, the service court is different for doubles and singles, which should be clear from various court dimensions.

In fact, the choice of the service court (either left or right) depends on how many points has a serving player. If a serving side has managed to win an even number of rallies, serving goes from the right side. Also, it is the right service court where the game starts from. If a serving side has earned an odd number of points, serving goes from the left side. Serving moves to a player who has managed to win the previous rally. If a serving player wins a rally, he serves one more time from the different part of the court this time.

A serving player is allowed to stay anywhere within the serving court, while his or her opponent must take his or her stand anywhere within the diagonally opposite part of the court. So, when a player serves from the left part of a court, he or she must send the shuttlecock into opponent’s left part of a court. After that, players are allowed to send the shuttlecock to any part of the court they wish.

When it comes to serving, it is necessary to mention its peculiarities through the lens of doubles. Although serving basics are the same here (the serving side depends on a number of points gained by a serving side) some important moments do exist. A player of a receiving side who served the last does not leave the service court; his partner moves to the neighboring side of the court. Players of the same team do not switch sides unless they win a rally from their own serving.

Changeover

In order to provide competitors with equal conditions of play, the badminton rules imply the changeover. In other words, they have to switch court sides at certain moments of the play. So, these moments are as follows:

1. Changeover happens after the first game.
2. Changeover happens before the third game.
3. Changeover happens in the third game should any of the players win 11 rallies.

International Competitions

As it has already been mentioned, badminton is a rather popular kind of sport throughout the whole world, not only in Asia. To prove this, it is enough to mention numerous badminton tournaments held in various countries.

So, the list of tournaments including both men’s and women’s competitions can be as follows:

• The Thomas Cup;
• The Uber Cup;
• The Sudirman Cup;
• The BWF World Championships;
• The BWF Super Series;
• The Summer Olympic Games.

Apart from the ones mentioned above, it is not necessary to forget that numerous countries have their own national badminton associations organizing various tournaments and competitions.