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Badminton Rules
What Are The Rules Of Badminton?
It is necessary to understand badminton rules to play fairly and get the most enjoyment out of the game.
Badminton is a sport played in singles and doubles, and its rules have some similarities to tennis.
Badminton rules for both singles and doubles underwent a complete overhaul in 2006. Under the new system, players must reach 21 points. Whoever wins each rally, wins the point. If players are tied at 20-all, whoever has the first two-point lead wins.
If the scores goes to 29, the player reaching 30 first wins. The match is won by the best two out of three games played.
Starting The Game
Every game of badminton starts with a coin toss. The winner can choose whether to serve first or not, and can choose on which side of the court to begin the game.
As in most racquet sports, the score begins at 0-0 (called love-all). The players stand on opposite sides of the court, diagonally opposite. The game begins with the server on the right side. This is always the case when the score is even and when it is odd, the server serves from the left court. The serve is underhand and does not bounce.
The Goal Of The Game
The goal is to hit a shuttlecock over the net and onto the floor within the court boundaries to win a point. The opponent does his best to keep that from happening by returning the shuttlecock back over the net as many times as possible.
If the shuttlecock doesn’t get over the net or goes out of the marked boundaries, it’s a fault and the point is lost. Then, the next serve goes to the opponent.
What Is A “Let”?
A let is a serve that doesn’t count either because:
• The shuttlecock hit the net
• The shuttlecock fell apart
• The umpire couldn’t determine if the shot was in or out of bounds
Badminton rules allow for two minutes between games as the players change ends. When players are in the third game and the score reaches 11, they change sides of the court.
Doubles
The badminton rules for doubles are much the same. The server first serves from the right side of the court.
The receiver serves next – then the receiver’s partner, then service finally will go back to the initial server’s partner.
As in singles, you would serve or receive on the right side of the court when the score is even and from the left side when the score is an odd number. Your partner does the reverse.