Yes. Badminton premiered as a full-medal Olympic sport at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. It will again be featured at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga.

Yes. Badminton was included for the first time in the XII Pan American Games, March 11-26, 1995 in Mar del Plata/Buenos Aires, Argentina. Badminton will also be contested in 1999 at the XIII Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles. Mixed Doubles will be included as an Olympic event for the first time at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga.

No. 1 ranked men's singles player: Heryanto Arbi (INA); women's singles: Ye Zhaoying (CHN); men's doubles Gunawan/Bambang Suprianto (INA); women's doubles: Ge Fei/Gu Jun (CHINA); mixed doubles: Heryanto Trikus/Minarti Timur (INA) (As of Jan. 9, 1996)

Final rankings after '94-'95 season - No. 1 ranked men's singles: Kevin Han (Colorado Springs, Colo.); women's singles: Kathy Zimmerman (Denver, Colo.); men's doubles: Kevin Han/Tom Reidy (Brooklyn, N.Y.); women's doubles: Linda French (Elmhurst, Ill.)/Erika Von Heiland (Anaheim, Calif.); mixed doubles: Linda French/Mike Edstrom (Denver Colo.)

Indonesia boasts six of the top 10 men's singles players, as well as the top-ranked men's doubles team. Other dominant countries are China, Malaysia, Korea, Denmark, and Sweden.

Between 1949-1967, the United States largely dominated the sport, winning the equivalent of 23 world individual championships (one men's singles, 12 women's singles, on men's doubles, eight women's doubles, and one mixed doubles) and three women's world team championships. The U.S. men's team was also world runner-up during this period. Although America's international success has declined since the 1970s, the current U.S. squad is one of the most promising up-and-coming teams in world badminton. The United States qualified six athletes (maximum allowed for one country) for the 1992 Olympic Games, and won a total of five medals at their inaugural appearance at the 1995 Pan American Games.

Olympic Games, Thomas and Uber Cup (World Team Championships for men and women, respectively, held every even year), World Championships, Sudirman Cup (World Mixed Team Championships, held every odd year), Pan American Games, U.S. Open.

The International Badminton Federation's World Grand Prix Circuit, started in the 1980s, turned a primarily amateur sport into a professional one. The highest paying Grand Prix tournaments award $165,000 in prize money. The USBA Classic Series is America's own "Grand Prix Circuit," in which top U.S. players compete in five regional tournaments for a minimum of $2,000 in prize money per event.

United States Badminton Association in Colorado Springs, Colo., established in 1936.

International Badminton Federation (IBF) in Gloucestershire, England, established in 1934.

Over 2,700 members belong to the USBA (as of January 1996). However, the USBA estimates there are thousands more recreational badminton players in the United States.

The IBF has 130 member associations around the world, with more than 14 million members.

There are 503 high school interscholastic badminton programs in the United States. The USBA's major grassroots program is the "Target-2004 Junior Development Program," consisting of eleven regional junior programs across the United States.

Modern badminton began as "poona" in India. In the 1860s it was adopted by British Army officers stationed in India. The officers took the game back to England, where it became a success at a party given by the Duke of Beaufort at his estate called "Badminton" in Gloucestershire. The first badminton club in this country, the Badminton Club of New York, was formed in 1878.

U.S. Junior National Championships, U.S. Adult National Championships, U.S. Senior National Championships, USBA Classics.

Badminton is one the world's fastest racket sports, requiring quick reflexes and superb conditioning. In a badminton smash, the shuttlecock reaches speeds of 200 m.p.h. in top international competition.

Badminton is a highly aerobic sport which can be played throughout one's lifetime. In a typical two-game match, a player run approximately one mile.

A 1993 study revealed that more than 1.2 million Americans play badminton at least 25 times a year, 760,000 Americans call badminton their favorite sport, and more than 11.2 million Americans played the sport at least once during the year. Internationally, more than 1.1 billion people watched the 1992 Olympic badminton competition on television.

Statistics don't Lie! The speed and the stamina required for badminton are far greater than for any other racket sport. At the 1985 All England (Tennis) Championships, Boris Becker defeated Kevin Curren 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. At the 1985 World Badminton Championships in Calgary, Canada, Han Jian of China defeated Morten Frost of Denmark, 14-18, 15-10, 15-8. The following is a statistical comparison of those matches.

Note that the badminton players competed for half the time, yet ran twice as far and hit nearly twice as many shots.

*The actual time the ball/shuttle was in flight, divided by the length of the match.