Sports, Recreation, Arts & Culture

Netting Badminton in the City

Badminton is no stranger to Ekurhuleni, and is a sport administered by the Eastern Gauteng Badminton Association.

It’s a sport played using a racquet to hit a shuttlecock across a net. The net divides the rectangular play area into two parts and the game is played by either single or doubles players. 

The association currently has six clubs which are the Sub Area, Emanuel, Vets, Kaleideo, Renzacci and Eyethu Academy. There are also five schools that have badminton as one of their sporting codes St Dunstans, Tom Newby Primary, Arbor Primary, Rynfield Primary and Farrarmere Primary.

‘’Badminton as a sport is growing within the Ekurhuleni region and we have young players from our clubs who were supposed to take part in the SA U/15 tournament scheduled for the first week of April 2020, but had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, ’’ says Barnie Liebenberg, Chairperson of the Eastern Gauteng Badminton Association.    

The 10 rules of badminton are:

  • A coin toss starts the game.
  • No player is allowed to touch the net with either his/her body or racquet.
  • At no point must the shuttlecock be carried on or rest on the racquet.
  • Reaching over the net to hit the shuttlecock is not allowed.
  • To be valid, a serve must carry cross court (diagonally).
  • When serving, the shuttlecock must be hit from below the server’s waist. Also, while serving, a player is not allowed to touch any of the court lines until the shuttlecock is served.
  • A player gets a point when he/she wins a rally.
  • A rally is won only when the shuttlecock touches the floor of the opponent’s side of the court or when an opponent’s commits a fault. The most common fault is failing to hit the shuttlecock over the net, or it lands outside the court boundary.
  • Players on each side can only hit the shuttlecock once to pass over the net.
  • If the shuttlecock hits the ceiling it is seen as a fault.

For more information about badminton development programmes contact Sam Mongala on 073 331 8982.