Badminton Rules You Need To Know To Enjoy The Game

Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world. According to the 2022 Global Fan Study, around 706 million people watch Badminton worldwide. It has also been one of the staple events in the Olympics. As of the writing of this blog, China is the most successful nation in the Olympics, closely followed by Indonesia. As the 2024 Paris Olympics are almost here, it is prime time we know everything there is to know about Badminton. We will start with the basic badminton rules and discuss everything, including court size and other important information. 

Basic Badminton Rules

There are a plethora of basic badminton rules you need to know to enjoy the game fully. For this reason, we have divided these rules into categories. Also, all of the rules we are about to list here are based on the unified rules of the Badminton World Federation (BWF). 

Before starting with the basic badminton rules, we have to tell you how badminton is played. Well, badminton can be played in 2 ways: Either single, where 2 players are playing one-on-one, or you can play doubles, where 4 players play two on two. Now, let’s take a look at some basic badminton rules. 

#1 Left Or Right

The side of the court you stand isn’t by choice. If the server’s score is even, you have to stand on the right side of the court, and if the server’s score is odd, you have to stand on the left side of the court. 

#2 Hitting Shuttle Cock

Badminton is played with a shuttle cock, and it has a ball at one end and feathers on the other. A player must keep in mind that they have to hit the ball part of the shuttle. If a player accidentally hits the feather part of the shuttle, he/she can be penalised or even get disqualified. 

#3 Net 

This might be the most well-known rule. If your shuttle gets stopped by the net, the corresponding point goes to your opponent. 

#4 White lines

The white lines on a badminton court denote the out-of-bound line. If a shuttle goes past that line, then the point is given to the opponent. Moreover, if your foot is on the line while playing a shot, the point will also go to your opponent. 

#5 No Hands

In badminton, your racquets are your hands; your actual hands should never touch the shuttle (Except Serving), or the point will go to your opponent. 

#6 21 Points

In order to win this match in badminton, you have to make 21 scores before your opponents. There are a total of 3 games in every match, and a player or a team has to win at least 2. 

#7 Dock Out

If a player constantly breaks the rules, the referee has the right to penalise the player at a point or dock the player from the game.  

So, there you have it. These are some of the most important and basic badminton rules you need to know to understand and enjoy the game more than before. Now that we know the badminton rules, the next thing to talk about is the scoring system and court dimensions. 

Badminton Scoring System

The badminton scoring system works by points per rally. All singles and doubles badminton matches are the best of three games, each with 21 points. The first to reach 21 points wins the game.  The point is awarded on every serve and to whichever side wins the rally. The winning side gets the next serve, and the position of the server and receiver depends on whether the score is odd or even, as mentioned in the badminton rules section above. As mentioned above, the first team to reach 21 points wins. However, if both the teams are at 20-20 each, the first team to score 2 consecutive points wins the game. Also, if the score somehow reaches 29-29 each, the first to get to 30 points wins the game. 

Changing Playing Ends

In badminton, players are required to change sides under particular conditions. For instance, after the end of the first game out of three, the players are expected to change sides, and the same goes for the second game, only if a third game is required. Players must change their sides after 11 points if the match reaches the third game. 

Badminton Court’s Dimensions

A badminton court is 5.18 metres (17ft) wide and 13.41 metres (44ft) long during a singles match. In a doubles match, the width is increased to 6.1 metres (20ft). 

The net in badminton is at a height of 1.55 metres or 5.1ft at the poles and around 1.52 metres or 5ft in the middle, where it dips a little. 

A serve must go past the short service line, which is 1.98 metres or 6.5 ft away from the net. after the short service line, a line runs down the middle of the court to divide the left and right service courts. Moreover, a double service line is 0.76m or 2.5 ft in from the baseline.

All of this means that the dimension of a service court, of which a badminton court has 4, is around 3.96 metres or 13 ft long and 2.59 metres or 8.5 ft wide. 

Dimensions Of A Shuttle Cock

The shuttle cock, also known as Birdie, as mentioned above in the badminton rules section, is like a ball that has a cork at one of its ends and feathers on the other one. As per the rules, a badminton shuttle cock has 16 feathers in it. Moreover, the shuttle cock is 62-70mm long and weighs around 4.74 to 5.5 grams. The diameter of the cork is around 25-28mm, and the diameter of the feather side must be somewhere between 58-62mm.  

Don’t Miss Out On This Olympic’s Badminton Event

Badminton is one of the staple events of the Olympics and has been a part of the multi-sport event since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Although the game is dominated by Asian players, the increasing notoriety of the sport in Scandinavian and European countries has given rise to new talents emerging from the aforementioned countries. So, with this blog, you can understand and enjoy the badminton events in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. If you liked the blog, feel free to comment and share your thoughts. 

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