Badminton is a racquet sport that is played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across the net. It is played as an outdoor activity in a yard or a beach. Points can be scored by striking the shuttlecock and landing it within the opposite half side of the court. There are specific rules of badminton that are required to follow for winning the game.
Badminton is a summer Olympic sport for men and women that can play this sport in singles and doubles. The sport demands excellent fitness of the player like aerobic stamina, agility, strength, speed, and precision. It is also a technical game that requires good motor coordination and the development of proper racquet movements.
In badminton, the rules are set for everything, including equipment, court, scoring, serving, and much more. In the following write-up, we will discuss such rules of badminton, which makes it an Olympic sport.
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Rules for Equipment Used in Badminton
1. Badminton Racquets: The racquets are light weight ranges between 70 and 95 grams without grip or strings. These aremade up of top-quality materials like carbon fiber composite, solid steel, etc.Carbon fiber provides excellent strength and maintain weight ratio, stiffness, and gives excellent kinetic energy transfer.
2. Racquet Strings: For badminton racquets, the thickness of strings ranges from about 0.62 to 0.73 mm. Thin racquet strings are preferred than the thick strings. The string tension is preferred in the range of 80 to 160 N.
3. Racquet Grip: There is a variety of grip materials, but the common choice is PU synthetic grips or towelling grips. Players may face sweating problems, and a drying agent must be applied to the grips or hands. Here is an article on how to hold a racquet.
4. Shuttlecock: A shuttlecock is a high-drag projectile object with an open conical shape. It is made from sixteen overlapping feathers that are embedded into a rounded cork base. The cork is covered with thin leather or synthetic material that helps it not to break easily.
5. Badminton Shoes: Badminton shoes should be lightweight and are made with rubber soles or similar high-grip, non-marking materials for lateral support during undesirable and unexpected activity.
Rules for Badminton Court
The court is rectangular shaped and is divided into halves by a net in the middle. The length of the court is 13.4 meters, and the full width is 6.1 meters. For singles, the width is reduced to 5.18 meters. The net is placed over the doubles as well as singles side lines.
The net is 1.55 meters high at the edges and 1.524 meters high in the center. The laws of badminton do not mention the minimum height of the ceiling of the court, but a badminton court will not be suitable if the ceiling is likely to be hit on the high serve.
Rules for Serving the Shuttlecock
The server and receiver have to remain within their service courts, without touching the boundary lines. When the server serves, the shuttlecock must pass over the service line on the opponent’s court; else, it will be counted as a fault.
As per the wish of the other two players, they can decide the place to stand in the court without blocking the vision of the server and receiver. While serving the shuttlecock, it must be below 1.15 meters from the surface of the court when instantly hit by the racquet. Unlike tennis, the shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce. Whenever the serving side loses a rally, it immediately passes to the opponent.
In singles, the server stands in their right service court, when their score is even, and in the left service court when their score is odd. In doubles, if the serving side wins the rally, then the same player serves. If the opponent wins the rally, and their score is even, then the player in the right service court serves. If their score is odd, then the player in the left service court serves.
Rules on Scoring
In the beginning, a coin is tossed, and the winning player chooses whether to serve or receive first. It also selects the end of the court to occupy first. The opponent makes the remaining leftover choices. Alternatively, the shuttlecock is cast, and the side towards which the shuttlecock has pointed is served first.
In subsequent games, the winners of the last match serve first. Matches are judged on the best of three games. Each game should be played up to 21 points to win the rally. If the score reaches
20-all then the game will continue until one side gains a two-point lead. The game reaches to the golden point when there is an exception tie at 29-all.
In doubles, the serving pair decide who serves, and the receiving pair determines who receives in the first game rally. At the end of the first game, the players change. When the leading pair score reaches 11 points, then they change its ends at the start of another game.
Rules on Lets
A let means the time when the rally stopped and replayed with no change to the scoreboard. It can occur due to unexpected and undesirable disturbances. Some of the reasons are landing of shuttlecock on the court; shuttle touches the overhead rail and many more. If the receiver is not ready, and the server delivers the service, then it is also considered as a let.
Badminton Rules Based on BWF
1. The game should take place with either singles or doubles.
2. A professional match is played indoors on the proper dimensioned court.
3. Shuttlecock must hit the parameters of the opponent court to score a point. If it hits the net or court, then the opponent is awarded a point.
4. The serving players should be diagonal across the net to their opponent. There is no second serve if your first serve goes out.
5. After winning a rally, the serving stations move from one side to another.
6. No overarm serves are allowed. The server has to serve below his waist or hit underarm.
7. Each game starts with a toss to decide which player will serve and which side of the court the opponent would like to start from.
8. It is a fault if any part of your body touches the net, distracting the opponent, shuttlecock hitting twice, shuttlecock caught in the racket and then flung, etc. The opponent will be awarded a point.
9. The referee calls let if shuttlecock gets stuck in the bet, and the player was not ready.
10. There are two rest periods: one of 90 seconds after the first game and another rest period of 5 minutes after the second game.
11. The referee can dock the points of the player based on his law-breaking fouls.