Here are some of the recent statistics on badminton.
The sport of badminton is considered to be the fastest racket sports across the globe. When it first started, the sport was played by elite class of people. However, these days, this sport is played by a large population in countries like Indonesia, India, Malaysia and China. The game is pursued as a hobby, recreation and profession.
The popularity of badminton has grown to a great extent in the last decade. A study conducted in this regard in the year 1993 has proved that around 1.2 million Americans pursue this game and play at least twenty times in a year.
About 760,000 Americans out of this figure call badminton their favorite sport. The study has also revealed that more than 11.2 million Americans play this sport once in a year. Another study revealed that more than 1.1 billion people have watched the 1992 Olympic badminton competition on television.
Experts in this field claim that the origin of this game dates back to two thousand years. During this era, the game of battledore and shuttle cock was played in ancient Greece, India and China. Many changes have been made in the racket and shuttle cock used in this game. However, there have been no changes in the rules of the game or the game as a whole.
It took a long time for the acceptance of badminton as a sport in the world. In the year 1992, this sport was premiered at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. In 1996, this game again featured at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Badminton has proved to be a hero at the Sydney Olympic Games in the year 2000. It is now being considered as a full-medal sport.
The international badminton federation was founded in 1934. There were nine members in this federation initially; Canada, Wales, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland, England, New Zealand, France and Netherlands.
Currently, there are one hundred and forty two members in the international Badminton federation. The Thomas cup played in 1948 was the first major IBF tournament. It was the world men's team championships. This was just the beginning. The number of world events has increased with the addition of the Uber Cup and the Sudirman cup in 1989.
In the year 1995, the game of badminton was included for the first time in the XII plan American games. The game was played in 1999 in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Canada.
|
