IG07 Sports

Badminton has not been selected as one of the 14 sports featuring in the 2007 Rhodes Island Games.

Where did it come from?

There was a child's game called battledore and shuttlecock, in which two players hit a feathered shuttlecock back and forth with tiny rackets.

The game was called "Poona" in India during the 19th Century, and British Army Officers stationed there took the Indian version back to England in the 1860s.

The new sport was launched at a party given in 1873 by the Duke of Beaufort at his country place, "Badminton" in Gloucestershire. It quickly spread from England to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and made big strides in Europe.

Badminton is a game that somewhat resembles tennis and volleyball. It involves the use of a net, lightweight rackets, and a shuttlecock, which is a cork ball fitted with stabilizing feathers.

It is played by two or four players, on a marked-out area 44 ft (13.41m) long by 17 ft (5.18m) wide for the two-player game, and 20 ft (6.10m) wide for the four-player game.

A net is fixed across the middle of the court, with the top edge of the net set to a height of 5 ft (1.52m) from the ground at the centre and 5 ft 1 in (1.55m) at the posts.

The players hit the shuttlecock back and forth over the net with the rackets. A point can be won only by the serving side.

If the serving side fails to return the shuttlecock, it loses the serve; if the receiving side fails to return the shuttlecock, it loses the point and must receive again.

A game is played to 15 points, except in women's singles, in which a game is played to 11 points.

Shetland 2005

There were six medals in all for the Guernsey Badminton Team.

It was Silvers for the women as Elena Johnson took second place in the Women's Singles losing to Jersey's Marianna Agathangelou in the final 2-1.

These two players faced off again in the Women's Doubles. Johnson partnered by Lisa Hayward and Kerry Coombs-Goodfellow with Agathangelou faced off in another Channel Island final. The Jersey pair came out on top winning two nil leaving Guernsey with Silver.

It was Bronze for Guernsey's Ben Martin in the Men's Singles and also for Darren Le Tissier and Kevin Le Moigne in the Men's Doubles.

Kevin Le Moigne and Elena Johnson paired up for the Mixed Doubles and secure another Bronze for the island.

Earlier in the week Jersey had proved themselves a thorn in Guernsey's side having put them out of the Team Event in the Semi Final leaving the Sarnians with a Bronze.