Badminton is considered one of the oldest games known today because it originated from the game of shuttlecock, which was played in ancient Greece, India, Japan, China and even in some countries in Africa. The essence of the game was to throw a special shuttlecock using rackets. Badminton originated in India, where the prototype game was “pune. Later, the sailors brought this game to England, where the game gradually began to gain popularity. But badminton in its current form we owe to the English Duke of Beaufort. In 1973, the Duke of Beaufort, returning to his estate Badminton House from a business trip (India), brought with him the equipment for the game of “poona. The Duke soon introduced it to his entire extended family and the surrounding aristocrats. Badminton Manor became the center for the development and spread of the game, which, in connection with this, got its current name “badminton”.

In 1934 the International Badminton Federation was created, it included Canada, Denmark, France, England, the Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand and Wales. Under the auspices of the Federation, the World Badminton Championships for men (the Thomas Cup) began to be held in 1947. In 1992 badminton was recognised as an Olympic sport and included in the Olympic Games. Since then badminton’s popularity in the world has only grown, especially it is popular in Southeast Asia. Nowadays Asian athletes (China, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia) dominate in badminton and win up to 90% of medals in world championships.