Badminton is a racket sport for two or four people, with a temporal structure characterized by actions of short duration and high intensity. This sport has five events: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, each requiring specific preparation in terms of technique, control and physical fitness. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world, with 200 million adherents. The decision to include badminton in the 1992 Olympics Game increased participation in the game. This review focuses on the game characteristics, anthropometry, physiology, visual attributes and biomechanics of badminton. Players are generally tall and lean, with an ectomesomorphic body type suited to the high physiological demands of a match. Indeed, a typical match characteristic is a rally time of 7 s and a resting time of 15 s, with an effective playing time of 31%. This sport is highly demanding, with an average heart rate (HR) of over 90% of the player's maximal HR. The intermittent actions during a game are demanding on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems: 60-70% on the aerobic system and approximately 30% on the anaerobic system, with greater demand on the alactic metabolism with respect to the lactic anaerobic metabolism. The shuttlecock has an atypical trajectory, and the players perform specific movements such as lunging and jumping, and powerful strokes using a specific pattern of movement. Lastly, badminton players are visually fit, picking up accurate visual information in a short time. Knowledge of badminton can help to improve coaching and badminton skills.

Phomsoupha, M, Berger, Q, and Laffaye, G. Multiple repeated sprint ability test for badminton players involving four changes of direction: validity and reliability (part 1). J Strength Cond Res 32(2): 423-431, 2018-The purpose of this study was: (a) to develop a new sport-specific, repeated-sprint ability test involving 4 changes of direction, namely, the multiple repeated sprint ability (MRSAB) test for badminton players; (b) to determine its validity by comparing the results of 5 different skill levels; and (c) to assess the link between the new test and neuromuscular lower limb and physiological variables. For this purpose, 42 participants were separated into 5 groups to perform the MRSAB test at the same time of day, on 2 occasions, separated by at least 48 hours. The MRSAB test consisted of 2 repetitions of 4 movements (4 × 3 m) separated by 30 seconds of passive recovery. This pattern was repeated 10 times. The best time (BT), mean time (MT), and fatigue index (FI) were measured. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration were also recorded to determine the participants' physiological responses to the test. The results show that the MRSAB test is valid, because it differentiates between the 5 skill levels for BT, MT and FI and offers a reliable method (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.95 for BT and MT) for testing badminton players, with no differences between the sessions (p > 0.05). Moreover, the link between MT and neuromuscular variables, such as jump height in squats and countermovements (r = -0.55 and -0.60, respectively) and with V[Combining Dot Above]O2max (r = -0.92) reveals that this test uses a combination of the anaerobic and aerobic systems; thus, it can be used by trainers either to improve movement ability or increase these physical qualities.