Badminton, one of the popular fitness games has been around for fairly long time.
Good facilities for the game have been few in numbers ,and booked for the full year on an hourly basis. India has produced some world class players like Prakash Padukone, Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, P. Sindhu that have made India proud by winning international tournaments, Asian Games, Olympics, etc.
Some of us don’t know that the game had been known as “Poona Game,”as it got some important tenets from Poona (Pune). In earlier cultures in Japan, China and Egypt, a similar game was played with a different form, where challenge was to keep a woolen ball afloat with a wooden bats. Earlier form was called Battledore and shuttlecock, in England.
Around 1865 the British soldiers used to play this game in Pune. They added a net between two playing players and formed some ground rules of the game. This was around 1870. In 1873 the Poona Laws came from India. The returning soldiers demonstrated this game to the 10th Duke of Beufort who was the master of Queen’s House. The game was shown to his guests at his place called Badminton. It was in the Gloucestershire county in England.
Since then the name of the game was changed from Poona Game to the 'Game Of Badminton'. It started with two basic racket shaped wooden contraptions, and a tossing object which was different from today’s feathered shuttle. The credit for introducing Badminton as a gentle competitive sport goes to John Baldwin. The Badminton Association was formed in 1893 when official laws of Badminton were written. However Badminton World Federation was formed in 1934.
Today the game, the gear, and rules have undergone large number of changes.
And game has changed from game of skill to highly competitive game requiring high degree of endurance, burst of power, and excellent footwork.
World class tournaments like Uber cup, Thomas Cup, All England Championship, etc. are played on the global platform. Asia has been dominating the game for most tournaments.
However Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Sweden are also big names.This game certainly owes big credit to Pune from where it went to England.
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