A short writeup on the indigenous game of India- Badminton, written by our student Siah Mittal.

Siah is 13 years old, a young orator from Gurugram. We are proud to have her as a student of the Little Kathakar Program, an Online Public Speaking through Applied Storytelling & Theatre Program under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Siah for this exemplary true self-expression.

The Game of Badminton

Imagine a beautiful lady-like feathery shuttle getting passed from one court to another without touching the ground once. When she drops suddenly, don’t worry; she won’t be hurt. Hello everyone, I am Siah and today I’m going to share with you about a worldwide famous and well-known sport that originated from British India, called Badminton.

Badminton goes a long way back in history to a game called George Cajoles. It was played in Pune in the 19^th century by the British military officers who were stationed there. Then, this game was taken back to England. There it developed and gained popularity quickly. The new club, The Bath Badminton Club, arranged the first set of written rules in 1877. The All-England Championships were the first Badminton competition in the world, which was held in 1899. Badminton has been an Olympic sport since the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Even though the sport originated in England, it is mainly played in Asia. In countries like China, Nepal, Indonesia, India, and the Republic of Korea.

Some famous players of this game are –

First is, Nandu Natekar, also known as the “God of Badminton.”

Second on the list is one of the most decorated player of the county, Mr. Prakash Padukone, who is also known as the “Father of Badminton.”

Third most important player on the list is, Saina Nehwal who is the first female player from India to achieve the world no.1 spot in April 2015. And many more.

The organization that oversees badminton worldwide is Badminton World Federation (BWF). The organization that oversees badminton in India is the Badminton Association of India, which also holds national badminton tournaments in India.

The most popular badminton tournaments are the BWF World Championships. There are 26 tournaments of badminton played at the international level which are further divided into 5 levels – Super 1000 (which has 3 tournaments), Super 750 (which has 5 tournaments), Super 500 (which has 7 tournaments), and Super 300 (which has 11 tournaments). Each of these tournaments offers different ranking points and prize money.

Few rules of the game are listed below:

• There are two types of games- singles, in which there is only one player on each side of the net. Then there are doubles in which there are two players on each side of the net.
• When serving you have to stand diagonally to your opponent, and serve in the same manner.
• If you hit a short serve or the shuttle goes out of the boundaries, the opponents gain a point.
• While playing doubles the boundaries increase so the chances of the shuttles going out of bounds decrease.
• You cannot hit the shuttle twice.
• You cannot touch the net with your body or your racket.
• If the shuttle touches the net yet lands on the other side, it is called a lucky shot.

Many people play badminton and there are many stories about them. Though I would like to share the story about a famous player named Shikha Gautam.

Shikha Rajesh Gautam (born on 18 April 1998) is an Indian badminton player. Shikha is current national champion and is ranked no. 1 Women’s Doubles player in India. Shikha current World Ranking is 49 and she is part of TOPS SCHEME by SAI for mission Olympics 2024. A child prodigy, Shikha was born in Visakhapatnam and raised in Nashik before shifting to Bangalore at the age of 13 to train at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy. She currently trains at the Yadav Pro Badminton Academy in Bangalore under her coach Jagadish Yadav, former Indian men’s doubles player. Shikha holds the rare distinction of being the youngest Indian badminton athlete to participate in Junior Badminton Asia Championship. She was only 13 when she represented India at the 2011 Asian Junior Badminton Championships in China, Japan. Shikha further represented her country at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in the year 2012, 2014 and 2016. Shikha Gautam also competed at the 2016 BWF World Junior Championships in Bilbao, Spain. In the 2016 Premier Badminton League, Shikha was part of the winning Delhi Dashers Team. In 2017, Shikha won women’s singles title at the Mauritius International and finished runners up at the India International Series held in Hyderabad. Until 2017, Shikha was a specialized singles player. It was only at the Senior National Championship in 2017, she realized her potential as a doubles player when she won the silver medal in women’s doubles at the National Championship held in Patna, Bihar. Following the success, she started playing in Doubles event regularly although singles remained her primary focus. In 2019, at the National Championship in Guwahati, Assam, Shikha entered in women’s doubles event along with her childhood friend Ashwini Bhat as a scratch combination and surprisingly the duo went on to clinch the title The triumph at the national championship compelled Shikha Gautam to divert her focus to Doubles. She has proven through her continuous efforts that one can achieve anything as long as dedication, sincerity and persistence is there.

“This was an attempt from my side to share a short glimpse of the Indian game of Badminton. Hope you enjoyed the information.”-Siah

Leave your valuable comments for encouraging our students to innovate, explore and express more.