Olympics / Editor / 05 August 2008 / Leave a comment Bet Now

A shuttle through the sport where 16 goose feathers seem to hang in the air forever while actually travelling faster than a tennis ball.

How it works

There are five medal competitions - men's and women's singles and doubles, plus mixed doubles. The singles events start with 64 players, the doubles events 32 couples, and each round is a knock-out. The men's and doubles games are played to 15 points, the women's to 11, with only the server able to score. Best of three wins.

Who'll do well

It's a big hit amongst the Asian countries, with China dominating the women's singles (gold at the last two Olympics), and the women's doubles - winning a whopping nine of the twelve Olympic medals on offer since the sport was first included in 1992 (3 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze.)

The men's competition is a little more open, with Indonesia, China, Korea and Denmark winning 11 of the 12 medals available. The former two countries dominated at last year's badminton World Championships. China's Lin Dan and Zhu Lin won the men's and women's singles, and China also won the women's doubles. Indonesia won the men's and mixed doubles events.

What makes it interesting

Two details to amaze your friends with: shuttlecocks are made with 16 goose feathers from the same bird, normally from the stronger left wing, and the shuttlecock travels faster than the ball in other Olympic net sports (tennis, table tennis and volleyball.)

Why bet on it

The men's singles are particularly interesting, as the top seed has never won it. It's anyone's game.