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Sometime around 1992 when badminton was first introduced as an Olympic sport, an American comedian used this as material for his act. "What's next...tiddlywinks?" he joked. He got a big laugh, probably because most Americans associate badminton with that backyard picnic game which just happens to use somewhat similar equipment to the real game of badminton. If we never saw professional tennis as played at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, but we instead just strung a net across the backyard during picnics and batted the ball back and forth, we would think that tennis was also in the tiddlywinks league. Fact is, Americans hardly ever (never?) see professional badminton on the sports networks. Some facts about badminton that Badminton is the second most popular sport in the world (next to soccer). In the 1992 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea, badminton premiered as an Olympic sport. It was the first sport to sell out for the Olympics that year. Badminton is the world's fastest racket sport; a shuttle can leave the racket at a speed of almost 200 mph. Comparing a professional singles badminton match versus a professional singles tennis match, it is likely that a badminton singles player will run twice as far in half the time compared to a tennis singles player. |
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