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With origins in ancient civilisations, badminton is derived from a game called battledore and shuttlecock that was played among the upper classes in the 1600s across Europe. The more modern version of the sport can be traced to mid-18th century British India and a game called poon that introduced the net to the game. It was played by British military officers, who subsequently brought the game back to England.  Early photographs show Englishmen adding a net to the traditional English game of battledore and shuttlecock.

The new sport was introduced to England in 1873 for the guests of the Duke of Beaufort at his Badminton House in Gloucestershire. From that game, the sport gained the name of ‘The Game of Badminton’, later officially becoming called badminton. The first open tournament happened at Guildford in 1989 and the first national championships came the following year.

In 1934 the International Badminton Federation was formed and would later introduce the first world championship – the Thomas Cup – in 1948. While being a relatively new sport to the Olympic programme, badminton has actually been played at every Commonwealth Games since 1966 across  five different disciplines including singles (men, women), doubles (men, women) and mixed doubles, the number was turned into six with the introduction of the Teams Event in later Games. 

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The early version of the game was predominantly played among the wealthy
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