ANCIENT ORIGINS

FLIGHT OF THE SHUTTLECOCK REACHES 260KPH

Simon Archer
Photograph: Graham Chadwick/Allsport

England, which gave the game of badminton its name, may not be rich in titles in the sport these days but it can claim one most impressive record; the fastest recorded smash came off the racket of Simon Archer, of Great Britain, the flight of the shuttlecock reaching a staggering 260 kilometres an hour. Archer will take part in the men's and mixed doubles in Sydney and lasers will monitor the speed of his serves.

The origins of the game were somewhat more sedate. Match play similar to that seen in the modern game was common in the 1870s but the game evolved from much older sports, those of Ti Jian Zi in China and its descendant, battledore and shuttlecock, which was played some 2,000 years ago by the ancient Greeks as well as in China, Japan and India.

In Ti Jian Zi, players kicked the shuttlecock and there were no rackets. Around the time of Christ's birth, the battledore, an early form of the racket, appeared in China, Japan and Greece. Over the centuries, battledore and shuttlecock became a popular game, first among children and later among nobles and others in high society. In continental Europe, the game was referred to by its French name, "jeu de volant". By the mid-1800s a game known as poona had developed and would evolve into the modern game of badminton.

British army officers adopted the game and the Duke of Beaufort introduced it into society at Badminton House, his country estate in Gloucestershire. The estate, more famous for its equestrianism event now, gave its name to the game when the Bath Badminton Club was formed in the late 19th century. In 1893, the first national badminton association was founded in England. The first international championship, the All England Open, took place in 1899. One of the early stars of the sport was Kitty Godfree, winner of several Olympic tennis medals for Britain, who was badminton champion three times in the 1920s.

At that time, the game was also taking off in Ireland, France, Australia and New Zealand and in 1934 the International Badminton Federation (IBF) was born. Since then, Asian nations, most notably China and Indonesia, have dominated the sport. China's top women of the 1980s, Li Lingwei and Han Aiping, won six women's World Cups, six grand-prix singles titles and 63 championships titles between them. One European, above all, merits mention from the pre-Olympic era; Morten Frost, of Denmark, won more than 70 international titles during the 1980s.

The men's team world championship, started in 1949, is played for the Thomas Cup, named after Sir George Thomas, the first IBF president, while the women's team world championship is played for the Uber Cup. The first world badminton championships, including singles events, was held in 1977 before the game became an Olympic medal sport in 1992.