A sport that traces its origin back to ancient India, China and Greece, badminton is one of the most engaging sports at the Summer Olympic Games.Badminton made its debut as a demonstration sport at the Olympic Games in Munich 1972. Later, it was an exhibition sport in Seoul 1988.
It was not until the Barcelona 1992 that it was officially included on the Olympic programme with four medal categories: men’s and women’s singles, and men’s and women’s doubles. Mixed doubles was added in Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. In Paris 2024, 172 players will be competing. The five events of men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles will be contested across the 10 days of competition with five gold, silver and bronze medals awarded.
Badminton now has a biennial world championship hosted by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and makes regular Olympic appearances. Asian nations have dominated the list of medal winners, with athletes from the continent accounting for 106 of the 121 badminton medals in Olympic history.
The rather late introduction to the Summer Games meant that legendary shuttlers like LiemSwie King, Prakash Padukone, Morten Frost, Li Lingwei and Han Aiping never got to play an Olympics – where a medal is considered one of the most prestigious achievements.
The thrill of watching a badminton match, with the rapid exchange of shots that need quicksilver reflexes, is simply unparalleled. Badminton has thus carved a niche for itself as one of the elite sports in the world. Meanwhile, badminton’s Olympic era has thrown up new stars, both men and women.
The badminton competitions will be held in the Porte de La Chapelle Arena, located in the north of Paris, between July 27 and August 5. The format of both singles and doubles events are divided in two phases: the group and knockout stages. The knockout stages begin with the round of 16 for singles events, and quarterfinals for doubles events.
A total of 172 badminton players, with an equal distribution between men and women, will compete across five medal events (two per gender and a mixed) at these Games, the exact same amount as those in the previous editions.
Barcelona 1992
The first player to win an Olympic badminton medal was Indonesian Susi Susanti, who came from a game down to beat South Korea’s Bang Soo-Hyun in the women’s singles final. Incidentally, it was also Indonesia’s first-ever Olympic gold.
Suzi Susanti
They would soon add to that tally as Alan Budikusuma beat compatriot Ardy Wiranata in the men’s singles to ensure Indonesia took away both singles gold medals. South Korean pair Kim Moon-soo and Park Joo-bong won the men’s doubles gold while their countrywomen Hwang Hye-young and Chung So-young won gold in the women’s doubles.
Of the 16 medals on offer – both losing semi-finalists won bronze in each category – Asian countries won 15. It would set the tone of Asian domination of Olympic badminton in the years to come.
The sole non-Asian Olympic medalist among either players or pairs was Denmark’s Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen, who won a bronze in the men’s singles. A total of fifteen medals will be distributed across five events in the Paris 2024 badminton competition. People’s Republic of China will aim to reproduce – or improve on – its outstanding record of six medals at Tokyo 2020, while European countries will attempt to build upon the momentum they gained at the last editions of the Games.
Since then, People’s Republic of China has been the most successful NOC with 47 medals including 20 golds. Indonesia is second on the medal table with 21 medals including eight golds. And while Demark is the historic powerhouse in Europe, the growth of other nations means we may well see a surprise sprung in the French capital.
Quest for Paris 2024
In total, 172 quota places will be awarded for the badminton competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024: 86 for women and 86 for men. This is the same total as Tokyo 2020.For each gender, 83 quota places will be allocated via direct qualification, one is reserved for the host country and two for Universality places.
A maximum of eight different athletes per gender from the same NOC will be allowed to participate. As opposed to other sports that allocate spots to athletes by name, all quota places will be allocated to NOCs.
In the men’s and women’s singles events, two quota places (for two athletes) will be awarded to the NOCs with two or more athletes ranked between 1 and 16 in the ‘Paris Ranking Lists’. Otherwise, one quota place is allowed per NOC.
NOCs may enter a maximum of two players each in the men’s and women’s singles if they are ranked within the top sixteen of the “Race to Paris” ranking list, respectively; otherwise, they will send a single player until the roster of thirty-eight is complete.
Similar protocols also apply to the players competing in the doubles tournament as the NOCs could enter a maximum of two pairs if they are ranked in the top eight with the rest entitled to a single pair until the quota of sixteen is reached.
Additional rules ensure that each category must feature a badminton player representing each of the five continental zones (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania) and assign additional quota places if some players qualify for multiple events.
In men’s, women’s and mixed doubles, the same system is applied, however the two quota places (for four athletes) are awarded to the NOCs who have two or more pairs ranked between 1 and 8.
Qualification Pathway
The ‘Paris Ranking Lists’ as of April 30, 2024 will be used to award quota places in men’s and women’s singles events, as well as men’s, women’s and mixed doubles events. Each list will be based on the results achieved between May 1, 2023 and April 28, 2024.
The results taken into account will be the ones of the competitions below: Thomas & Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup, World Championships, Grade 2 BWF tour tournaments – Levels 1 to 6, Grade 3 BWF Continental tour tournaments – International Challenge, International Series & Future Series, Continental Championships (individual and team), Continental Multi sports games – Pan American Games, European Games, and African Games (if sanctioned during the qualification period) and any other international event sanctioned by BWF and included in advance and with BWF approval as being part of the World Ranking Lists.
Pathway for Singles: A total of 70 athletes will qualify for the singles events through the BWF ‘Race to Paris Ranking List’: 35 in the men’s and 35 in the women’s events.
Those quota places will include the Continental Representation Places. In each singles event, there will be at least two athletes from each of the five BWF Continental Confederations (Continental Representation Places) provided the player is ranked 250 or above (ranked between 1-250) in the BWF Race to Paris Ranking list of 30 April 2024.
Pathway for Doubles: A total of 48 pairs will qualify for the doubles events through the BWF ‘Race to Paris Ranking Lists’ of 30 April 2024: 16 in the men’s event, 16 in the women’s event and 16 in the mixed event. In each doubles event there will be at least one pair from each of the five BWF Continental Confederations (Continental Representation Place).
Stars to watch at Paris 2024
In the men’s singles event, Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen is in dominant form. After winning gold at Tokyo 2020, he went on to win his second world title in 2022. His teammate Anders Antonsen will also be among the favourites.
Japan’s double world champion Momota Kento will be aiming for redemption after failing to qualify for the knockout stages at Tokyo 2020 as the top seed. There may also be surprises, as Kevin Cordon proved at the last edition of the Games. Ranked 59th in the world before Tokyo 2020, he reached the semifinals and showed that hierarchy means little at the most important sporting event in the world.
In the women’s singles event, Rio 2016 gold medalist Carolina Marin will attempt to win a second Olympic title. The Spanish shuttler claimed her sixth European title in 2022, however could not go further than the quarter-finals at the World Championships in the same year. Japan’s Yamaguchi Akane won gold on home soil at the Worlds beating the reigning Olympic champion CHEN Yufei from People’s Republic of China in the final.
In the women’s doubles, Chinese pair CHEN Quingchen and JIA Yifan won gold at the World Championships 2022 after clinching silver at Tokyo 2020. They will certainly be among the favourites for Paris 2024, along with Republic of Korea pair KIM So-yeong and KONG Hee-yong who came second at the World Championships.
On the men’s side, Tokyo 2020 bronze medalists Aaron Chia and SohWookYik from Malaysia won gold at the Worlds and will attempt to do the same at the next Olympics. Reigning Olympic champions LEE Yang and WANG Chi-lin will also be aiming for the top step on the podium in France.
The mixed doubles competition is dominated by Chinese pairs, particularly Olympic silver medalists ZHENG Siwei and HUANG Yaqiong who won gold at the Worlds after briefly splitting after the last Olympics. They will aim to clinch the only title missing from their resume in France. WANG Yilyu and HUANG Dongping are the reigning Olympic champions and won bronze a year later at the World Championships, however it is yet to be confirmed whether they will team up again on the road to Paris 2024. However, the Japanese pair composed of Watanabe Yuta and Higashino Arisa, bronze medalists at Tokyo 2020 and silver medalists at the Worlds in 2022, will also be aiming for gold in Paris.
Qualification Timeline
1 May 2023 to 28 April 2024: Ranking Period for the ‘Race to Paris Ranking Lists’; 15 January 2024: Deadline for NOCs to submit their requests for Universality Places; 28 April 2024: End of the qualification period; 30 April 2024: The ‘Race to Paris Ranking Lists’ are published; 8 May 2024:Deadline for the Host Country to confirm in writing to the BWF, the Host Country Places; TBD: The Tripartite Commission to confirm in writing the allocation of Universality Places to the NOCs (where applicable); 10 May 2024: The BWF to inform NOCs/NFs of their allocated quota places; 24 May 2024: NOCs to confirm in writing the use of allocated quota places to the BWF; By 5 July 2024: Deadline for the BWF to reallocate all unused quota places; 8 July 2024: Paris 2024 Sport Entries deadline; 26 July – 11 August 2024: Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Besides the customary 31 BWF World Tour events and the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in December, the Olympics and Thomas and Uber Cup Finals will add some extra spice for badminton fans all over the world and India.
The Malaysia Open BWF Super 1000 tournament, scheduled from January 9 to 14, will be the first event on the 2024 badminton schedule. The BWF World Tour Finals, slated for December 11-15 will be the last piece of top-notch badminton action for the year.
The highlight of the badminton calendar, however, will be the Paris 2024 Olympics. Being an Olympic year, there will be no senior world badminton championships in 2024.
Viren Nettasinghe of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s highest ranked badminton player Viren Nettasingheis looking to secure a quota at the upcoming Summer Games. The Race to Paris Olympic Qualification period for badminton is already in effect and runs till April 28, 2024. This means that players will be on the hunt for qualifying ranking points before the window closes.
Viren Nettasinghe was recognized as the Most Outstanding Badminton Player at the 2023 Sport Unleash School Sports Awards in Colombo. Then 19-year-old student of St. Peter’s College, Colombo 4, he was placed in the 150th position in the Badminton World Federation’s global rankings, but is on continuous rise with frequent wins over higher ranked opponents.
Competing against top of the class opponents at international tournaments, Nettasinghe has impressed on multiple occasions over the past few months.
