Baminton
The Basics
In Vietnam and many other Asian countries badminton is a popular sport played in competition and also socially.
Each game is played up to 21 points, with players scoring a point whenever they win a rally.
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This differs from the old system, where players could only win a point on their serve. A match is the best of three games.
At the start of the rally, the server and receiver stand in diagonally opposite service courts. The server hits the shuttlecock so that it would land in the receiver's service court. This is similar to tennis, except that a badminton serve must be hit from below the waist in underhand form, the shuttlecock is not allowed to bounce , and in tennis the players stand outside their serivce courts.
When the serving side loses a rally, the serve passes to their opponent (unlike the old system, there is no "second serve").
In singles, the server stands in his right service court when the score is even, and in his left service court when his score is odd.
In doubles, if the serving side wins a rally, the same player continues to serve, but he changes service courts so that he serves to each opponent in turn. If the opponents win the rally and their new score is even, the player in the left service court serves. The players' service courts are determined by their positions at the start of the previous rally. A consequence of this system is that, each time a side regains the service, the server will be the player who didn't serve last time.
Details
When the server serves, the shuttlecock must pass over the short service line on the opponents' court or it will be a fault.
If the score reaches 20-all, then the game keeps going until one side gains a two point lead (such as 24-22), up to a maximum of 30 points (30-29 is a winning score).
At the start of a match a coin is tossed. The winners of the coin toss may choose wether or not they want to serve first or receive first, otherwise they can choose which end of the court they want. Their opponents make the remaining choice. If you don't have a coin you hit the shuttle cock in the air whichever side it points to gets first pick at serving, receiving or which end they want.
In subsequent games, the winners of the game before them get to serve first. The winner of the match is the first player/team to win two games (best of three). For the first rally of any doubles game the servers and the receivers can choose who, of their own team wants to serve and receive first. The players change ends at the start of the second game; if the match reaches a third game, they change ends both at the start of the game and when the leading pair's score reaches 11 points.
The server and the receiver must remain in their service courts, without touching the boundary lines, until the server strikes the shuttlecock.