Badminton
The shuttle is struck back and forth over a net and must not touch the floor; unlike a ball it decelerates sharply and practically never bounces.
Badminton Court
Under these rules: 6.10 m wide: the outer sidelines are in play.
A court 13.4 m long; 5.18 m wide for singles and 6.10 m for doubles.
Singles and doubles share one set of markings but use different lines: singles is narrower and deeper, doubles wider with a nearer back service line.
Net
Under these rules: The posts stand 1.55 m high on the doubles sidelines.
The top of the net stands at 1.524 m at the centre and 1.55 m at the sidelines.
The posts stand 1.55 m high on the doubles sidelines whether the match being played is singles or doubles.
Shuttlecock
Under these rules: Feathered or synthetic.
A feathered or synthetic missile that decelerates sharply in flight.
A shuttle does not fly like a ball: it leaves fast and dies almost at once. So a stroke from the baseline reaches the opponent's baseline, and anything weaker drops in mid-court.
Racket
Under these rules: One per player.
A light racket for striking the shuttle.
Lightness matters more than stiffness here: the shuttle weighs almost nothing, and all the speed comes from the speed of the wrist.
The rules of doubles badminton
What differs
Play uses the full width of the court — 6.10 m, along the outer sidelines.
Service courts
A player of the serving side serves from the right service court when their side has not scored or has scored an even number of points, and from the left when the number is odd.
Sequence of serving
The right to serve passes consecutively: from the initial server who started the game from the right service court, to the partner of the initial receiver, then to the partner of the initial server, and on round.
If the serving side wins the rally, it scores and the same player serves again from the alternate court. If the receiving side wins it, it scores and becomes the serving side.
Sources
- BWF Statutes, Section 4.1: Laws of Badminton · Badminton World Federation Open source
Glossary of terms
- Correct service
- An upward stroke from the diagonal service court, with the whole shuttle below 1.15 m and released without spin.
- Shuttle
- The missile of the game. It flies fast and dies quickly, so the distance a stroke covers depends on power far more than a ball's would.
- The ceiling
- The cap on the score: at 29-all the next rally ends the game at 30-29.