History and development

Games with a shuttlecock are widely believed to have originated in ancient Greece about 2000 years ago. From there they spread via the Indo-Greek kingdoms to India and then further east to China and Siam (now Thailand). In England since medieval times a children's game called Battledore and Shuttlecock was popular. Children would use paddles (Battledores) and work together to keep the shuttlecock up in the air and prevent it from reaching the ground. It was popular enough to be a nuisance on the street of London in 1854 when the Punch magazine published a cartoon depicting it.

Battledore and Shuttlecock, an antecedent to the modern game of Badminton. 1854, from the John Leech Archive

In the 1860s, British Army officers in Pune, India, began playing the game of Battledore and Shuttlecock, but they added a competitive element by including a net. As the city of Pune was formerly known as Poona, the game was known as Poona at that time. About this same time, the Duke of Beaufort was entertaining soldiers at his estate called "Badminton House", where the soldiers played Poona. The Duke of Beaufort's non-military guests began referring to the game as "the badminton game", and thus the game became known as "Badminton". In 1877, the first badminton club in the world, Bath Badminton Club, transcribed the rules of badminton for the first time. However, in 1893, the Badminton Association of England published the first proper set of rules, similar to that of today, and officially launched badminton in a house called "Dunbar" at 6 Waverley Grove, Portsmouth, England on September 13 of that year. They also started the All England Open Badminton Championships, the first badminton competition in the world, in 1899. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) was established in 1934 with Canada, Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales as its founding members. India joined as an affiliate in 1936. The BWF now governs international badminton and develops the sport globally.

Ref:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton