Badminton facts
There are quite a few misconceptions about badminton: boring sport, you only do that at the campsite, right?, “just” pass the shuttle around. Nothing could be further from the truth! Read some facts here that may change your opinion about badminton.
Fastest racket sport in the world
Badminton is the fastest racquet sport in the world, with shuttles reaching speeds of up to 320 kilometres per hour. Mads Pieler Kolding from Denmark holds the record for the fastest badminton hit in a match, hitting a speed of 426 km/h during the 2017 Badminton Premier League match in Bangalore, India.
The fastest smash ever recorded is 493 km/h, hit by Tan Boon Heong. This smash is also included in the Guinness World Records archive.
UPDATE: In April 2023, the record was broken! Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (India) hit a smash of 565 km/h. He broke the ten-year-old record. The women’s record is held by Pearly Tan (Malaysia), with a smash of 438 km/h.
And what about other sports?
- Fastest badminton smash: 565 km/h
- Fastest F1 car: 397,483 km/h
- Fastest golf drive: 349,38 km/h
- Fastest tennis service: 263 km/h
- Fastest ice hockey shot: 177,5 km/h
- Fastest baseball pitch: 170,3 km/h
- Fastest football shot: 129 km/h
- Fastest table tennis smash: 116 km/h
Source: Olympics.com
Good for health and condition
Badminton is a fun and stimulating game. It requires focus and concentration and requires players to think carefully and execute shots efficiently. People who play badminton a few times a week enjoy a good workout that keeps the heart and body strong.
Olympic sport
Since the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, badminton has been an official Olympic sport. Before that, it was only a demonstration sport.
Light weight shuttlecock
The shuttlecock used in a game of badminton weighs about five grams and is one of the lightest sporting equipment.
Badminton vs. Tennis
Badminton is a very intensive sport, more intensive than tennis for example. A comparison:
In 1985 during the All England Tennis Championships Boris Becker played against Kevin Curren. Becker won this match with 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.
During the 1985 World Badminton Championships in Calgary, Canada, Han Jian (China) played against Morten Frost (Denmark). This match was won by the Chinese Jian with 14-18, 15-10, 15-8 (old scoring).
These two matches have been compared on several points:
| Criteria | Tennis | Badminton |
| Time | 3 hours, 18 minutes | 1 hour, 16 minutes |
| Ball/shuttlecock in play | 18 minutes | 37 minutes |
| Match intensity* | 9 per cent | 48 per cent |
| Rallies | 299 | 146 |
| Shots | 1004 | 1972 |
| Shots per rally | 3,4 | 13,5 |
| Distance covered | 2 mile (3,22 km) | 4 mile (6,44 km) |
So the badminton players’ match lasted less time, but the distance covered was twice as much! There were also almost twice as many shots.
*The actual time the ball/shuttlecock was in the air divided by the length of the match.
Other source: thefactfile.org
