From controversial wins to record-breaking players, the world of
badminton is full of fascinating facts, bizarre stories and royal
appearances.
By Royal Approval
-
 China's
first world champion, Li Lingwei, kept Queen Margrethe of Denmark
waiting by hiding behind a door. She was only 19 and felt too emotional
to receive her women's singles gold medal immediately.
- Badminton is named after the Duke of Beaufort's Gloucestershire
home, Badminton House, where ladies with vellum-covered
battledores, playing keepy-uppy with shuttles, managed more than 2,000
consecutive hits.
Olympic Sport
- Badminton earned its Olympic place partly because the 1983 world
men's singles final between the muscular Icuk Sugiarto and the
quicksilver Liem Swie King impressed IOC President Juan Antonio
Samaranch so much.
Controversy
- Controversy concluded the 1999 final between
Camilla Martin
and Dai Yun after the Chinese observed the scoreboard showing a
three-point tie-break at 10-all in the decider. The umpire had actually
called a sudden death finish and the Dane snatched the title 11-6, 6-11,
11-10.
- Underdog Wu Jianqui reached match point against the great Han
Aiping in the 1985 women's singles final – only to be called for a foul
serve. Wu protested, lost focus and never recovered. That was the last
time she reached the finals.
England Players
-
 England's
Ray Stevens would have won a medal but for his sportsmanship in
1977. Stevens insisted his opponent Flemming Delfs be reinstated after
being defaulted for returning to the court late. The Dane won and went
on to become world champion.
- The only English player with two world titles is
Nora Perry,
who stormed the women's doubles with Jane Webster in 1980, and the mixed
with Sweden's Thomas Kihlstrom in 1983.
- England's best medal hope,
Nathan Robertson, will try to
regain the world mixed doubles title with Jenny Wallwork and add to his
men's doubles bronze with Anthony Clark.
- English player Jenny Wallwork never felt overawed about
following the super-successful Gail Emms as Robertson's partner –
perhaps because dad Brian Wallwork and mum Jill Pringle both represented
England, too.
More Badminton Facts
-
 Shuttlecocks
at top level are manufactured with goose feathers, rather than plastic.
But they must come from same wing to ensure stable flight.
- The 2011 World Championships take badminton back to
Wembley Arena,
which for 37 years was the home of the All-England championships, once
the unofficial world championships.
- Denmark may have only a fraction of China's population but it
possesses a great club tradition, has won a remarkable 10 world titles
and could add to the tally at the World Badminton Championships 2011 in
London.
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