The forerunner of badminton- battledore and shuttlecock

2000 year old battledore and shuttlecock was the forerunner of badminton

There are many theories about the origin of badminton. Sport historians speculate that badminton originated from battledore and shuttlecock, a game that is about 2000 years old and originated in Ancient Greece. The game involved hitting a feathered projectile like a shuttlecock backwards and forwards with a wooden bat. The ancient Greeks turned the wooden bat into a wooden frame with sheep skin in the middle;the elasticity of the leather made the shuttlecock easier to hit. This game spread eastwards and reached Siam, China and Japan etc from India.The bats were solid wood, had lather inside a wooden frame or were stringed. People are depicted using a bat to hit a shuttlecock or featherball in many ancient paintings of East and West. These types of games were collectively referred to as battledore and shuttlecock. These multifarious images illustrate the ancient origins of badminton.......Full Article