| Badminton
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| Badminton is an indoor racket and shuttle game played by two or
four players across a net. |
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Badminton
Court
The court is
laid out on a level and smooth surface, wood and composite flooring being
common. The floor must not be slippery. A sketch of the court is given
below: |
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| (a) A minimum of 2 meters (6.56 ft) clear space is essential on all
four sides. |
| (b) The markings are in white paint or by white tape and must be 4
cm (1½ in) wide. |
(c) For doubles play, the entire court is used but for singles the
court is 91 cm (3 ft) narrower on the sides.
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| Net |
This is made of cord with a mesh of 1.5-2 cm
(5/8-3/4 in). White tape
should be doubled over the top and strained over the top of the post. The
net is 1.55 m (5 ft. 1 in) high at the post and 1.524 m (5 ft) high in the
center.
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| Shuttles
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There are
two types of shuttles - one of feather and the other of nylon. The base of
the feather shuttle is of cork which is completely rounded except at the
top which is covered with thin white kid leather. This base is 2.5-2.9 cm
(1 - 1 and 1/ 8 inches) in
diameter. 16 white goose feathers 6.1-7.9 cm (2½ to 2¾ in) long are fixed
firmly into the top of the cork. They have a spread of 58-68 mm (2½ - 2
5/8 in) at the top and weigh
from 4.74 to 5.51 gm or 73 to 85 grains.
A nylon
shuttle is usually of one piece and the feathers are replaced by what is
generally known as the skirt.
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| Racket
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The modem badminton racket is made of either hickory carbon
alloys or steel. It has about 16 horizontal and vertical strands of thin
gut strung tightly. It is 680 mm long and the head is 230 mm in width.
Though there is no stipulation in the laws as to its dimensions or
composition, a racket weighs 92 to 156 gm (3 ¼ to 5 ½ oz). |
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| Rules of the Game
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The following are badminton rules in a nutshell: |
| 1.
Service in badminton must be delivered underhand. There are four types of
service - short, high, drive and flick. |
| 2.
The server must stand with both feet within his service court and neither
foot should touch the line. |
| 3.
The receiver may stand anywhere within his service court. |
| 4.Some part of the feet must be in contact with the floor at the
same spot, until the shuttle is hit. |
| 5.
Who will serve first is decided by tossing a coin. |
| 6.
Only the server can add to his/ her score. |
| 7.
If the receiving side wins a rally, the score remains static but a service
change takes place. |
| 8.
In doubles, two partners serve consecutively except that at the starting
of the game only one service is allowed. After both lose the service, the
service changes to the other team. |
| 9.
A side loses the rally if: (a) the shuttle falls outside the boundary; (b)
a service fault is committed; (c) the shuttle is held on the racket.
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| 10. Double bit - This is a term commonly used when a shuttle is
struck by two distinct touches of the racket. Until 1968, any double hit
was a fault. But in 1968, the rule of double hit was changed to invalidate
a hit only when a player made two strokes at the shuttle. |
| 11. Wood shot - This term is used for mis-hits when the shuttle is
totally or partially struck by the frame of the racket. Clean hits off the
frame of the racket or the wood shot is valid since 1963. |
| 12. A 'let' occurs only as a result of any unforeseen or accidental
hindrance such as a shuttle from a neighbouring court interfering with
play or a shuttle being caught in or held on the net. When a let occurs,
the whole rally is replayed. |
| 13. If the score reaches 13-all, the player or pair, which first
reaches 13 points, has to give the defending player/pair the option of
'setting' the game for a further 5 points or of continuing the game only
upto 15. If the game is extended by 5 points, then the score is called
'love-all' and the first side to score 5 points wins the game. If 14-all,
then the game may be completed straight or extension of 3 points may be
allowed. |
| 14. The women's singles game is of 11 points. If a game reaches
9-all, it may be set for 3 points and at 10-all, for 2 points.
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15. In the third game, the opponents change ends half way through
it, i.e., when one side's score reaches 8 in a game of 15 and 6 in a game
of 11.
(Courtesy - The Hinduja Sports
Foundation) |
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| Prakash Padukone |
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 |
Known as the `Gentle Tiger' on court, Prakash Padukone, is
the only Indian to reach the top of the World Badminton honours by
winning the All England Championship in 1981. Born on June 10th 1956
he won his first National Men's singles at the Indian Nationals when
he was only 15 years old (he also won the Juniors title at that
Nationals). He won the Nationals 9 years in a row from 1971 till
1979 and did not play at the nationals again till
1989. | |
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| At
the Commonwealth games in 1978, he was the gold medallist. 1980 was his
best year, in the months leading up to the All-England, he dominated the
top European players, consistently beating Fleming Delfs, Morten Frost
Hansen and Svend Pri (all All-England champions themselves), and won the
Danish Open and the Swedish Open. Seeded third at the All-England, he beat
Morten Frost in the semifinals and Liem Swie King in the finals in
straight games. He lost in the quarterfinals at the World Cup that year.
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| In
1981 at the All-England Championships, he was seeded only sixth although
he was the defending champion. But he came back to beat the legendary Rudy
Hartono in 3 games in the semifinals. In the finals, he was pitted against
Liem Swie King again, but this time King beat him in 3 games.
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| In
1982 Padukone turned pro, and moved to Denmark because of the better
training facilities. |
| He
retired from competitive play in 1991. |
| These days Prakash runs an academy for training badminton players
in Bangalore. |
| |
| Major Achievements: |
- Was
National Senior Champion for Nine Years in a row from 1971 to 1979.
- Commonwealth games Gold medal winner in 1978 at Edmonton, Canada.
- English
Masters at Royal Albert Hall, London in 1979.
- Won the
Danish Open, Swedish Open and the All England Championships in
1980.
- Became a
licensed player in December 1980 & moved to Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Winner of
the first Alba World Cup in October 1981 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Won the
First Indian Open Prize Money Tournament at Pune during November 1981.
- Won the
Dutch Open in 1982.
- Won the
Hong Kong Open in 1982.
- Winner of
the Bronze Medal in the World Championships held in Copenhagen, Denmark
in 1983.
- "Arjuna
Award" winner in 1972.
- Awarded
"Padmashree" in 1982.
- Manager of
the Indian Team which won the Silver Medal in the Men's Event &
Bronze Medal in the Women's Event of the Commonwealth Games
1998.
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