Philippine Badminton Rules & Regulations

Badminton has traveled all across the world to become the popular sport it is today. Although its origins can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Greece, it eventually made its way to India. The game—known as Poona—was played by British soldiers stationed there, who eventually took it back to Britain. When it was played by an English Duke at a party on his estate, known as “Badminton,” the game took on the name—forever being known as badminton. It has since traveled to many areas of the world, including the Philippines, where a national badminton club exists to promote the sport.

  1. Scoring Points

    • Badminton can traditionally be played one-on-one or two-on-two. Official rules, as set by the International Badminton Federation, dictate that scoring normally allows the first player to 21 points within an individual game to be declared the winner of that game. The winner of two out of three games is considered the winner of the tournament.

      From place to place, rules can be altered slightly. The Philippine Badminton Club dictates that tournaments held will go to 30 points per game, rather than 21; however, the winner of 2 out of 3 games will still be declared the winner of the tournament.

    Serving

    • Badminton—unlike other net sports, such as tennis—requires players to stay on the ground during service. When the shuttle is hit, it must be below the waist of the server during time of contact with the racket. Overhand serving is prohibited in badminton. Serving normally leads to a rally, which is a sequence of back-and-forth shots that end in one player scoring a point from the shuttlecock hitting the floor of his opponent, or through his opponent committing a fault. Unique to badminton in the Philippines, players alter serving sides when one player hits 15 points.

    Penalties

    • Just like in tennis, some of the main methods that players score are through opposing players committing faults. Faults are considered shots that are not permitted, such as hitting the shuttle out of bounds, hitting the shuttle with a racket twice, or hitting the net with a racket.

      “Lets” are basic interference of gameplay as caused by outside sources, such as the ball getting caught in the net or the shuttle getting damaged during play. They result only in a “re-do” and not in a penalty on either player.