Badminton’s foreign element in Beijing

Foreigners playing badminton in Beijing is not a common sight. And although most expats here normally engage in at least one activity they wouldn't do back home, hitting a shuttlecock isn't one of them. Badminton's popularity among foreigners could be small because many expats don't know where to play, or have never played and are afraid to try.

The Beijing International Badminton Club is a non-profit organization founded in 2007 by Hong Kong native John Ho.

"From the beginning, the club's intention was to create an environment where people from all over the world could get together to play badminton and meet people from China and other countries," Ho told Metro Beijing.

The club meets every Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon at the Si'de Racquet Club in Beijing's Lido area, Chaoyang district. Reservations are not required and walk-ins are welcomed.

"At one point, we had over 300 members on our roster. The split was 70-30, with 70 percent Chinese from all over the world, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, India, Philippines, and the rest were from the US, Canada, Australia, France, Russia, Denmark and the UK," Ho said.

The Chinese have long dominated badminton, even before it became an official Olympic sport at the Barcelona Games in 1992. Although it was British military officers stationed in India in the middle of the 19th century who invented the sport, it was Asian countries throughout the 20th century who brought the game to the level it is at today.

Unlike tennis, the game is more in line with agility and quickness, rather than power or aggression.

But underneath the sport lies the element of deception, and it's that skill which reigns supreme. Reading the direction and speed of the shuttlecock requires a certain type of eye and body coordination other racquet games do not require.

UK native Stephen Price is 35 years old and a member of the Beijing International Badminton Club. He has been living and working in Beijing since 2005. Price first began playing badminton as a child and started playing again later in life.

"Initially it was a family thing, but I rediscovered badminton after I started working and found it to be both great exercise, very sociable and a game which was more and more rewarding the more I played," he said.

"Badminton keeps me focused on the goal, and therefore I'll always reach to make a shot. It's tactically exciting, but offers a smooth learning curve, so players of different abilities can still have fun together," Price noted.

Ho went to college in Dallas, Texas, where he studied computer engineering, and after graduating found a job in the city and lived there for years. As to why badminton isn't very popular in the US, Ho said that the sport is treated as a backyard game played only by kids. It is never taken seriously.

But Ho also said in bigger US cities badminton gyms are not uncommon. "Today, the sport is popular in Chinese concentrated areas like Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area," he explained.

Price told Metro Beijing in the UK badminton is popular and people are exposed to it at school, unlike in the US.

"I think in the US racquet games are focused around tennis, racquetball and squash," Ho said, adding, "Badminton has actually been tested as the fastest racquet sport. The speed of the shuttlecock in a smash exceeds even the fast serving tennis players."

As for the Beijing International Badminton Club, Ho sees it maintaining its presence. "It's great to meet so many badminton lovers from all over the world. We have members from 20 different countries. It is not unusual to have eight different players from eight different countries smashing each other on the courts," Ho remarked. "It is a very amazing experience."