BADMINTON
MARCH 13, 2021
Summary Of Badminton Origin
Badminton is a very popular sports in Indonesia. You can find people playing this game almost everywhere especially in August, during the celebration of Indonesia’s Independence Day. Here is the summary of Badminton origin.
The origin of Badminton dates back to at least 2000 years ago, played in ancient Greece, China and India. The modern Badminton game was first played around 1863. The game is named from the country estate of the dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England. It evolved from the ancient game of “battledore and shuttlecock” or “Poona” or “Poonah”. Badminton game was then played in 19th century among British officers around British India area. Some of the sons of the Duke of Beaufort were in the British Indian Army.
Today Badminton game is played with “singles” (one on one player) or “doubles’ (two on two players) with or without mix gender composition. Player using a racket to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Player gains one point if the opponent unable to return the shuttlecock or if the shuttlecock lands inside the opponent’s territory. Each game is played to 21 points, the winner of a match is whoever wins most of three games (the best of three). If the score reaches 20 for both sides, game continues until one side gains a two-point lead, except when it is 29 points for both, then the winner is the one who scores the golden point.
A badminton shuttlecock (birdie) so far is the fastest recorded moving object in sports. During a new racket technology test in 2013, Malaysia player Tan Boon Hoeng set the world record of the fastest badminton shuttlecock with a speed reached 493 km/h.
The world governing body of this sports branch is The Badminton World Federation (BWF). The initial name was International Badminton Federation (IBF), it was formed in 1934 with 9 members : England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Netherlands, France, Denmark, Canada and New Zealand. Sir George Thomas was the first chairman of IBF. Four years later The United States joined the federation. BWF is now recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympics Committee (IPC) and the headquarter is currently located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There are at least 196 members now around the world. According to ESPN, Badminton is the second most popular participatory sport in the world just behind Football/Soccer.
From their official website the BWF has a vision of “giving every child a chance to play for life” and also regulates, promotes, develops and popularizes the sport globally and organizes inspiring world events.
There are five regional confederations under BWF administration :
- Africa: Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA)
- Americas: Badminton Pan Am (BPA)
- Asia: Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC)
- Europe: Badminton Europe (BE)
- Oceania: Badminton Oceania (BO)
Several international Badminton competitions held by BWF are Thomas Cup and Uber Cup. Thomas Cup is the premier international team event for men and was first held in 1948 for world champion. The Uber Cup is for women and it was started in 1957. They take place once every two years. Also there is the Sudirman Cup which is a gender-mixed international team event held once every two years. The All England Open Badminton Championships, or All England is The world’s oldest badminton tournament, which was first held in Guildford, England in 1898.
In Olympic Games, Badminton was first appeared as a demonstration sport in Munch, 1972 and as an exhibition sport in Seoul, 1988. Then it was an official Olympic game in 1992 when it was held in Barcelona, Spain with Men and Women (Singles and Doubles) matches were added. A mixed doubles event has been held since the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.
Rudy Hartono is one of the best Indonesian Badminton players with 8 All England titles, 4 Thomas Cup trophies and a World Championship title.
In Indonesia, Badminton is called Bulutangkis. The governing body of the sport is Persatuan Bulutangkis Seluruh Indonesia (PBSI) or Indonesian Badminton Association. Founded on May 5, 1951 in Bandung, A. Rochdi Pataatmadja was the first chairman of the organization. Today there are 224 branches across the nation and around 2000 members of Badminton clubs have joined PBSI.
Some of the famous Badminton players from Indonesia are : Rudy Hartono, Liem Swie King, Icuk Sugiarto, Susy Susanti, Taufik Hidayat and many more.
Rudy Hartono is considered as the most popular Indonesian Badminton player of all time. The legend won the men’s singles title at the prestigious All England championship for eight times. Seven of them he did in a row (1968-1974) and at World Championship in 1980. He also won the Thomas Cup titles for four times. For this extraordinary achievements his name is listed in Guinness Book of World Records in 1982.
In Barcelona Olympic Games 1992, Indonesia won their first Olympic gold medal when Susy Susanti won against Bang Soo Hyun from South Korea. The next day Alan Budikusuma also won the gold medal for Indonesia team in an All-Indonesian Final match defeating fellow Indonesian player Ardy B. Wiranata. Indonesian Badminton 1992 Olympic team won both Men’s and Women’s singles category and also made Indonesia the first Southeast Asian country to win an Olympic gold medal. From that time Indonesian Badminton players keep collecting medals in the next Olympic Games.