The first World University Badminton Championship was organised in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1990. Traditionally, all Asian countries have distinguished themselves in this discipline. Next to the WUC programme, Badminton also featured as an optional sport at the Summer Universiades in Asia (Bangkok & Shenzhen). And in 2021 Badminton eventually became a compulsory sport at the Summer Universiade.
News
All newsEvents
FISU Technical Committee Chairs
Resources
The History of Badminton in FISU
Since the first World University Badminton Championship organised in Cyprus in 1990 and during the four subsequent editions, all Asian countries have distinguished themselves in this discipline. Indeed, the representatives of China and Chinese Taipei took the lion’s share of the wins in singles matches, winning the gold medal nearly every time. This supremacy was seriously challenged in doubles, where European countries sometimes scrapped through.
In general, badminton is very popular within the student community. The 2004 World University Championship in Bangkok recorded 20 countries and 134 participants. When Thailand won the bid for the Summer Universiade, badminton was proposed as an optional sport for the first time. This contributed to an increase in the level and number of participating countries: 33 countries and 159 athletes participated in the Universiade. The large number of spectators during the finals and live TV coverage brought this nice and very dynamic sport to a higher level. In 2011, badminton was optional again and eventually selected at the Universiade held in Shenzhen, China, a country where badminton is a star sport. Badminton was also optional in Kazan 2013 and Gwangju 2015. Due to this huge success, it became a compulsory sport at the FISU Games as of 2021.