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Badminton tournaments are played around the world by players of all ages and genders. There are, however, several different events that players are allowed to enroll in. Each event can have slightly different rules and certainly have different gameplay. Let’s take a look at each of the badminton events and what characteristics each of them have in this post.
The 5 events in badminton are men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles.
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What is Singles in Badminton?
Badminton singles is an event where a single player plays on each end of the court. In tournaments, the singles events include men’s singles and women’s singles. Casual tournaments may not separate the event into different sexes and can combine them together.
In singles, each player is responsible to retrieve and hit every shot in a rally without relying on a partner. The court dimensions for singles exclude the side alleys. Other than the court size difference and service rules, the rules for singles are the same as the ones in doubles and mixed doubles. You can read more in What’s the Difference Between Singles and Doubles in Badminton?
What is Doubles in Badminton?
Badminton doubles is an event where a team of 2 players play on each end of the court. In tournaments, the doubles events include men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. Casual tournaments may not separate the events and can combine them together.
In doubles, each team must work together to try and overcome the opposing team. The court dimensions for doubles are the entire court, which include the side alleys. Other than the court size difference and service rules, the rules for doubles are the same as the ones in singles and mixed doubles. You can read more in What’s the Difference Between Singles and Doubles in Badminton?
What is Men’s Singles in Badminton?
Men’s singles is a badminton event where 2 men play against each other in a singles match. To some, men’s singles is considered the most prestigious badminton event in professional badminton. This may be because the player must rely solely on his own skill (rather than also on a partner’s) while also, at least historically, playing at a higher pace than in women’s singles.
Men’s singles is characterized by its pace, control, footwork, and court coverage while also putting stamina, control, defense, attack, and precision to the test. To be the best in the world, you have to excel in all categories. At the highest level of badminton, men’s singles is amazing to watch.
The epic rivalry between 2 of the greatest men’s singles badminton players of all time, Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei put men’s singles as one of the most anticipated events to watch in badminton tournaments. The bar is high now that both of these legends have retired. Will players ever be able to match this rivalry in the future? Only time will tell.
What is Women’s Singles in Badminton?
Women’s singles is a badminton event where 2 women play against each other in a singles match. Women’s singles is perhaps one of the most diverse and competitive events in modern badminton. Currently, there are 7 countries represented in the top 10 women’s singles players, with just China, Japan, and Thailand having 2 players each in the top 10. Amazing!
Women’s singles is characterized by court coverage, control, stamina, and extreme precision. At the highest level, women’s singles players have to either work really hard or be precise and decisive to win points as most player’s’ defense and court coverage often exceeds the raw strength of the opponent.
What is Men’s Doubles in Badminton?
Men’s doubles is a badminton event where 2 men play on the same team in a doubles match.
Men’s doubles is known for its rapid pace and power. At the top level, men’s doubles players’ attack is often strong enough through sheer power and pressure to break opponents’ defenses. For this reason, men’s doubles teams try very hard to fight for the attack, which is usually done with drops, drives, and half court pushes. Once one team lifts the shuttlecock, the smashes come barreling down and the defending team needs to be a bit clever to get back onto the attack for a fighting chance.
What is Women’s Doubles in Badminton?
Women’s doubles is a badminton event where 2 women play on the same team in a doubles match.
Women’s doubles is known as an event that takes lots of physical and mental stamina and strength. This is because many of the top women’s doubles players have extremely strong defenses compared to their attacking play. Rallies are often quite long where players take turns attacking and then giving back the attack to the other team voluntarily as to save energy. For this reason, women’s doubles players need to have strong stamina to stay focused even in a long match and not get discouraged when their attacks do not get through.
What is Mixed Doubles in Badminton?
Mixed doubles is a badminton event where a team consists of a male and a female. This event is the best of both worlds, where men and women must team up together to utilize their respective strengths while covering each other’s weaknesses.
Mixed doubles is known for being very dynamic, fast, and exciting. The mixed doubles service situation is the most iconic part of the discipline, where the male player serves from behind the female player. Top players’ favorite attacking formation is to have the female player at the front of the court (near the net) and the male player at the rear court. The female player’s responsibility at the net is to set up attacking opportunities, cut off shots, and finish off the rally. The male player’s responsibility is to smash down hard when given the chance and to try to create weak replies from the opponents.
The reason why mixed pairs favor this particular attacking formation is because male players, especially at the top level, tend to have more raw power to fire down shots from the back of the court. Female players, on the other hand, have the more technical role at the front of the court to force lifts. This requires finesse and an excellent game sense to know when and where to hit the shuttlecock in different scenarios.
What’s the Difference Between Doubles and Mixed Doubles in Badminton?
Both doubles and mixed doubles in badminton have four players on the court at the same time. In a doubles match, players play together with a partner of the same sex. However, in mixed doubles, a team consists of one male player and one female player.
The rules are exactly the same in both doubles and mixed doubles but the gameplay tends to be quite a bit different. There isn’t anything written that says that players need to play differently in mixed but the evolution of the mixed discipline found that there are more optimal ways to play than the traditional doubles style.
For example, in the service situation, doubles players usually serve near the front service line. However, in mixed, the male player usually serves from near the middle of the court behind the female player. This is a subtle but already an important change in the gameplay. This allows the male player to stay in the back of the court even after the service.
Another difference in mixed doubles is that the attack is often targeted towards the female player as the female player tends to have less physical strength to hit the shuttlecock back really hard. However, there are some downsides to always doing so and is not always the optimal play. For one, if the attacking pair is not in a good position to direct an attack to the female player, she may be able to counter attack easily and simply win the point. Second, it is easier to move forward to the net after playing a defensive block than when your partner does so. Since the female player wants to move towards the net, it could be easier to turn the defense into attack if an attack is directed to the female player.
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