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Badminton at 2024 Paris Olympics: How it works, Team USA stars, what else to know

chase goodbread, usa today network
·2 min read
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Here's what you need to know about badminton at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

When did badminton become an Olympic sport?

The Olympic Summer Games added badminton in 1992, although the mixed doubles competition didn't debut until the Atlanta Games in 1996. No athlete representing the United States has ever medaled in the sport.

How does Olympic badminton work?

Badminton is a racket sport somewhat similar to tennis, with a net dividing the court in half.

Unlike tennis, however, a continuous volley of a shuttlecock is required, with points awarded when a player's shot lands on the opponent's side of the court. The shuttlecock is a cone-shaped object with feathers attached to a rubber or cork base.

Games are won at 21 points, in a best-of-three format. Olympic badminton includes men's and women's singles and doubles as well as mixed doubles.

Beiwen Zhang is preparing for Olympic bandminton competition in Paris this summer after finishing ninth in the Tokyo Olympics
Beiwen Zhang is preparing for Olympic bandminton competition in Paris this summer after finishing ninth in the Tokyo Olympics

Who are the top Team USA athletes in badminton?

  • Beiwen Zhang (women's singles): Zhang finished ninth in the 2020 Tokyo Games after suffering a tear of her Achilles tendon in a match against China's He Bing Jiao, forcing her to concede and withdraw from Olympic competition.

  • Vincent Chiu (men's doubles): At the 2022 Pan Am Championships, Chiu won a silver medal in the men's doubles category with partner Joshua Yuan. His mixed doubles partner, for which he has also qualified for the Paris Games, is Jennie Gai.

  • Joshua Yuan (men's doubles): Yuan reached the semifinals of this year's Pan Am Championships with partner Vincent Chiu, and the pair finished in the Round of 16 at the Madrid Spain Masters event in late March.

What's the international landscape in Olympic badminton?

The sport has been dominated by Asian countries, particularly China; among 10 players to win multiple gold medals, nine are from China.

At the 2020 Tokyo Games, China took gold medals in the women's singles and mixed doubles events. However, the men's singles gold medal winner, Viktor Alexsen, hails from Denmark.

The only American currently  in the top 10 of the Badminton World Federation rankings is Zhang, who ranks 10th in women's singles.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Badminton at 2024 Paris Olympics: How it works, what to know