Badminton was invented long ago; its origins date back at least two thousand years to the game of battledore and shuttlecock played in ancient Greece, India and China. A surprisingly long history for one of the Olympics newest sports! Badminton took its name from Badminton House in Gloucestershire, the home of the Duke of Beaufort, where the sport was played in the last century. By coincidence, Gloucestershire is now the base for the International Badminton Federation. 
 

The IBF was founded in 1934 with nine members - Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. The USA joined four years later. Membership grew steadily over the following years with a surge in new members after badminton's Olympic debut at Barcelona. As the sport's development program grows, the current 130 members is expected to increase further. 
 

Badminton is a familiar and well-liked sport in the US, but predominantly is a fun game in the back yard or on the beach. We know that once Americans see the other badminton - international badminton, the world's fastest racket sport - they will want more. The Atlanta Olympics started to raise the sport's profile in the US. The event was a sell-out and became one of the "must-see" sports. Ex-President Jimmy Carter, Chelsea Clinton, Princess Anne and Paul Newman were among the celebrities who came to watch. David Broder of the Washington Post also came. After seeing the men's doubles finals, he reported: "seeing one of the supreme athletic spectacles of my life". 
 

1996 was a landmark in American badminton. It's not only the Atlanta Olympic Games that started to generate massive interest in the American market. In December 1995 the IBF introduced a brand new tournament in California, the Hong Ta Shan Cup; a men's invitational event with top players and big prize money. This year there are plans to add a women's event and to increase the prize money still further - a real Christmas present for players and American spectators.
 

The rate of change is increasing. Badminton's debut as an Olympic sport has clearly boosted interest internationally. The STAR TV deal has increased the sport's coverage. Sponsors and television companies are increasingly attracted to a sport which gives them access to the Asian economies. And, spectators are increasingly attracted to the "enthralling mix of angles, tactics, reaction, touch and fitness that would exhaust a squash champion.