BADMINTON

Unlike other net sports, badminton uses a shuttlecock instead of a ball. A shuttlecock is an open conical object formed by goose feathers embedded in a rounded cork base. The speed at which this projectile moves is higher than in any other racket sport.

SPORT HISTORY

Badminton became an official sport at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. The competition at Tokyo 2020 will consist of men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles.

RULES OF THE GAME

A match consists of best-of-three games, with the first player or pair to reach 21 points winning the game. If the score is 20-all, the side that gains a two-point lead wins that game. If the difference is less than two, the game continues until the two-point difference is achieved. If the score gets to 29-all, the side that reaches 30 first wins the game. A match is won by winning two games. Either the server or receiver can win a point by winning the rally. In singles events, players are divided into 12-16 groups of three to four players each for a series of round-robin matches. The top-ranked player in each group then advances to the round-of-16. In doubles, players are divided into four round-robin groups of four. The two top-ranked pairs in each group then progress to the quarterfinals.