Badminton Court Specifications: All you need to know about a Badminton Court

More youngsters now want to learn badminton because of PV Sindhu (left) and Saina Nehwal
More youngsters now want to learn badminton because of PV Sindhu (left) and Saina Nehwal

Ever since Saina Nehwal started bringing laurels to India, the sport of badminton began climbing the popularity charts in the country. Nehwal’s continued success was followed by the rise of PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and a host of other shuttle stars who took Indian badminton to unprecedented heights.

Thus it is not a surprise that badminton is currently the most followed Olympic sport in India. For the past decade and a half, there has been a steady increase in the number of youngsters wanting to follow in the footsteps of the two golden girls, Saina and Sindhu.

More academies have sprung up, more talents are being churned out day by day with the hope of making the country a powerhouse in badminton. With so much demand for badminton, it might be a good time to brush up one’s knowledge about the technicalities of the sport.

Do we all know the specifications and dimensions of a badminton court well? If you want to take baby-steps into the world of badminton, having a proper sense of the badminton court size and net height is of utmost importance. This article will help you in that regard.

History of the game

India can take pride in the fact that this is where the sport started developing into the modern version as we know it today. Having originated in Pune, the game was first called Poona by the British officers who even established the first rules of the sport in 1873.

Poona was an amalgamation of pre-existing children’s games -- battledore and shuttlecock, which used to be played without a net in its very early, raw form. It was the Duke of Beaufort who has to be credited with how modern badminton took its first flight.

At a party in 1873, he introduced the game and the British elite took a liking to it instantly. The game continued to be practised regularly under the Pune rules until 1887. However, in those early days, the concept of a proper court did not come into being and there was no restriction on the net touching the ground.

In fact, the court wasn’t even rectangular in those early days. An hourglass-shaped court used to be in vogue and the game could be played both indoors and outdoors. It wasn’t until 1901 that the modern rectangular court was adopted.

With the sport getting more and more attention, revising the rules became imperative. It underwent several revisions, first by JHE Hart of the Bath Badminton Club, then by Hart and Bagnel Wild, followed by the Badminton Association of England (BAE). The BAE took every initiative to spread the game all over the world and thus they published the rules in 1893 before the public launch of the sport that year.

With the All England Open starting from 1899, there was no looking back and badminton was on its way to superstardom.

Let us now analyse the modern badminton court as we know it:

A modern badminton court (image courtesy: Victor Sport)
A modern badminton court (image courtesy: Victor Sport)

Badminton Court Dimensions: The full length of the current widely-used rectangular court is 13.4 metres or 44 feet. The full width of the court is 6.1 metres or 20 feet. With the sidelines restricting the singles court, the width of the court for singles players comes down to 5.18 metres or 17 ft.

Badminton Net: The net divides the court into two halves. It is 5 feet or 1.524 metres tall in the middle whereas its height increases to 5 ft 1 inch or 1.55 metres at the edges.

Centre Line: The Centre Line runs through the width of the court from the short service line to the back boundary line and divides the service court into the left and right service courts.

Short Service Line: It is situated at a distance of 6 ft 6 inch or 1.98 metres from the net and that area between the net and the short service line has been termed the non-volley zone.

Long Service Line for Doubles: This is drawn about 2 ft 6 inch or 0.76 metres from the back boundary line.

Side-Line for Singles: It is drawn 1.5 feet or 0.457 metres from the doubles sideline.

Side-Line for Doubles: It is the outermost sideline of the court and is used for doubles.

Back Boundary Line and Long Service Line for Singles: It is the outermost back line of the court and it stays the same for singles as well as doubles play.

Edited by Sripad