The invention of Badminton originates back to at least two thousand years ago, where is was a combination of the games battledore and shuttlecock played in ancient Greece, India, and China. "It is known that around 1860, the daughters of the Duke of Beutfort were playing Battledore and Shuttlecock in the great hall of Badminton house, the seat of the Somerset family in Gloucestershire, England. To add a little variety, they rigged up a string across the hall from the doorway to the fireplace and the aim of the game was to try to keep the shuttle going by playing it to each other over the string. It is believed that Mr. J L Baldwin suggested that it would be more amusing if the shuttle were to be hit away from instead of towards players on the other side of the string. The sport of badminton had been created."Gloucestershire is now the foundation for the International Badminton Federation. 131 countries are members of the IBF today.
"The American Badminton Association was organized in 1936 (changed to USBA in 1978), when Donald Wilbur, Robert McMillan, and twins Donald and Phillip Richardson, all from Brookline, Massachusetts, decided to combine the nation's various badminton groups. Programs from New York, Massachusetts, Chicago, and the West Coast came together to form one set of rules and regulations of the game". Nine members from Canada, Denmark, England, France, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales founded the International Badminton Federation two years earlier. After badminton's first appearance at the Olympics in Barcelona, it seemed to increase in popularity. The first major IBF tournament was the Thomas Cup in 1948. Since then, the number of world events has increased with the addition of the Uber Cup (ladies' team), World Championships, Sudirman Cup (mixed team), World Juniors and the World Grand Prix Finals.
Between 1949 and 1967, the United States won 23 world individual championships (one men's singles, 12 women's singles, one men's doubles, eight women's doubles, and one mixed doubles) and three women's world team championships.
