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). However, in 2021 Badminton will become a compulsory sport at the Summer Universiade.

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 and the World Student Games were attributed to Bangkok, 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 Summer Universiade. The large number of spectators during the finals and live TV coverage brought this nice and very dynamic sport to a higher level. For the second time in 2011, badminton was part of the programme of the Universiade held in Shenzhen, China, a country where badminton is a star sport. Finally, badminton was optionnal in Kazan 2013 and Gwangju 2015. Due to this huge success, badminton will become a compulsory sport at the Universiade from 2021.