The origins of badminton

All about the game

The game of Badminton was invented a long time ago; its origins go back at least 2000 years to the game of shuttlecock and battledore played in ancient India, Greece and China. A very long history for one of the Olympics newest sports! Badminton derived its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the home of the Duke of Beaufort, where the sport was played in the last century. By coincidence, Gloucestershire is now the home of the International Badminton Federation.

The IBF was founded in 1934 with nine members - Canada, England, France, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. The United States joined the IBF four years later. Membership grew steadily over the following years with a rush in new members after badminton's Olympic debut at Barcelona. As the sport's development program grows, the current 130 members is expected to increase even further.

The first major IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup (world men's team championships) in 1948. Since then, the number of world events has increased to 7, with the addition of the Uber Cup (ladies' team), World Championships, Sudirman Cup (mixed team), World Grand Prix Finals, World Juniors,  and the World Cup. The World Cup invitational event began in 1981 and is organized by the International Management Group

IBF's relationship with IMG started with the organization of the World Cup but has developed to include the sale of commercial and television rights at many IBF events. In these days of mass communications, the importance of television to a world sport is self-evident. Television brings the action, the excitement, the explosive power of badminton into homes around the world. It pulls in the crowd to see the action live; it pulls in the big guys in the sponsorship league.