The 2024 Olympic Games have begun and badminton is one of the many sports that you might tune in to.

As the Olympic Games has such a range of different sports, including some that aren’t usually widely televised, you might find yourself watching a sport you don’t fully understand.

While you can sometimes start to pick up the rules as you watch, having some background knowledge beforehand is often useful.

To help you out, we’ve broken down some key questions on badminton and how the sport works in the Olympic Games.

What are the serving rules in badminton at the Olympics?

Players must serve diagonally into their opponent's service box.

At the start of the competition and every time they serve with an even number of points, the athlete serves from the right-hand service court.

If a player has an odd number of points, they will serve from the left service box.

The winner of the previous point will be the server for the next rally, therefore, if a player wins multiple points in a row they will continue to serve throughout.

The serve must go over the first horizontal line on each side of the court (the service line).

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In a doubles match, the server will start on the right-hand side and keep serving while alternating sides with their teammate so long as they keep winning points.

The teammate will take over serving once the duo have lost a rally and then resumed service once more by winning another point.

Do you have to serve underhand in badminton?

Yes, in badminton all serves must be underhand with the entire shuttle under the server's waist on contact with the racket.

What is the Olympic competition format in badminton?

There are five badminton events at the Olympics, these are: men’s and women's singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

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Each event is a single-elimination tournament with the top eight players or pairs seeded.

Men's and women's singles events consist of a preliminary round, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final whilst the doubles jump from the preliminary round to the quarter-finals.

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