Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net.
Since 1992, badminton has been an Olympic sport with five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, in which each pair consists of a man and a woman. At high levels of play, especially in singles, the spor
t demands excellent fitness: players require aerobic stamina, agility, explosive strength, speed and precision. It is also a technical sport, requiring good motor coordination and the development of sophisticated racquet movements.

I am not a professional player, but I do like this game. It was just really exciting for me to discover, that the beginnings of Badminton can be traced to mid-18th century British India, where it was created by British military officers stationed there.
If you are interested in its history, click there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton#History_and_development

As every other sport, badminton has its own rules. Interesting? You can find them there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton#Rules 



Some outstanding participants from England: 

Emma Jackson, Jenny Meadows, Marilyn Okoro, Jemma Simpson. If you want to see the list of all  participants, click there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics
And, of course, our own pride and hope:
 Vasyl Lomachenko, Denys Berinchyk, Taras Shelestyuk, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Oleksandr Usyk.
For more information, you can visit this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics