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 has featured as optional sport in Bangkok, Shenzhen, Kazan, Gwangju and Taipei, before becoming a compulsory sport in Chengdu 2021.
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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, Gwangju 2015 and Taipei 2017. Due to this huge success, it became a compulsory sport at the FISU Games as of 2021.