Badminton Trivia

You never know when you might need some badminton trivia right…with Bright Sports Badminton Championships and the Emirati Open Badminton tournament that already happened in Dubai in June, we thought we would serve you up our top 10 badminton facts, so you can look like you know what you are talking about with your friends!

1. Badminton was originally called Poona. As it was frequently played by British officers stationed in the Indian garrison town of Poona in the 1960s.

2. The shuttlecock used in a game of badminton weighs about five grams and is one of the lightest pieces of sports equipment.

3. Badminton can be played as both singles and doubles. The single game is played on the rectangular court that is 44 feet long and 17 feet wide.  For doubles the width is increased to 20 feet.

4. Badminton joined the other sports in the Olympics in 1992 for separate sex singles and doubles matches. In 1996 mixed matches were allowed.

5. As of 2022, the longest singles badminton match lasted 26 hours 28 minutes and 20 seconds. This was by players Bartlomiej Szczerba and Janusz Stachon-Gol both from Poland, and took place on 27-28^th September 2019.

6. There is a Chinese version of badminton called Ti Zian Ji – The difference being that this version is played with feet instead of rackets!

7. Badminton rackets can not be longer than 68 centimeters and no wider than 23 centimeters. They should weigh between 85-90 grams, and are made of steel, aluminum, graphite and boron.

8. Badminton is the national game of Indonesia.

9. The first Olympic badminton match broadcasted on television was watched by 1.1 billion viewers.

10. Professional doubles players are known to hit as many as 40-50 shots in as little as 20 seconds.