Badminton Rules

This article looks at the rules of Badminton. These rules are not complex and are easy to understand, even to people unfamiliar with this sport.

Toss

A Badminton match begins with an opening coin toss, with the winner of the coin toss allowed to select one of two options: either to serve or receive first, or to play on a particular side of the court. The person who loses the coin toss is allowed to make the remaining choice.

Scoring format

Badminton is played in three sets, with the final win given to the first team to win two sets. In men's and double's games, the winning score in a set is 15, while in women's games, the winning score is 11. In the event that a men's and double's game results in a 14-point tie, or a women's game has a 10-point tie, the team that scored first in the set is given the option to continue to the final score or to continue the game to two points beyond the final score. For example, if a game between two men resulted in a 14-point tie, the first man to score is given the option of ending the game at 15 points or playing to a final score of 17. In women's events, this is a choice of 11 points or 13.

Serving and play

The court is rectangular-shaped and divided into halves by a net, with a half given to each payer. Within each player's portion, the court is again divided into halves from the rear boundary and stretching to the net. These areas are known as the service courts, and which service court a player serves from depends on how many points his opponent has scored. A player serves from the left side when an opponent has scored an odd number of points, and right for even points. The players bat the shuttle between them until a fault occurs.

Play rules

The play rules of Badminton are simple; players are allowed to hit the shuttle one time over the net to their opponent, and the opponent is afforded one chance to return the shuttle. When play stops due to a violation of the rules, a "fault" occurs and the game resumes with the player who did not commit the fault serving the shuttle. If a fault occurs against the player who served, the opponent is given the serve with no change to the score; however, if the player not on serve commits the fault, the serving player gains a point. In Badminton the player serving is the only one who is able to accumulate points, and the faults that occur are identical to faults in tennis. Playing beyond the established boundaries, hitting the shuttle twice before returning it over the net, allowing the shuttle to touch the ground and interfering with the opponent's side of the court are all reasons for a fault. Play is also sometimes stopped with a "let" by an umpire, and resumes with no change to either who is scoring or the score.

Badminton rules are not complicated and are quite similar to tennis.