Badminton factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS, July 6 (Reuters) -- Factbox on badminton at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Early forms of badminton were played in China, India and Greece but the modern game began to develop in England in the late 19th century.

Badminton is named after the Duke's of Beaufort residence in Gloucestershire -- Badminton House -- where the sport was played in England for the first time.

The International Badminton Federation (IBF) was founded in 1934 but the sport was a late entrant to the Olympic fold and first featured in the Games in 1992 in Barcelona, with men's and women's events, having been a demonstration sport at the 1972 Games. Mixed doubles was added to the programme at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Since then, badminton's popularity has grown, especially in China, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as in Britain and Scandinavia.

EVENTS

Men's and women's singles (32 competitors in each)

Men's and women's doubles

Mixed doubles

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men's singles: Ji Xinpeng (China)

Men's doubles: Tony Gunawan/Candra Wijaya (Indonesia)

Women's singles: Zhichao Gong (China)

Women's doubles: Ge Fei/Gu Jun (China)

Mixed doubles: Zhang Jun/Gao Ling (China)

OLYMPIC PROGRAMME

August 14: Women's singles first round

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Mixed doubles first round

August 15: Mixed doubles second round

Women's singles second round

Men's singles first round

Men's doubles first round

August 16: Women's singles quarter-finals

Women's doubles first round

Mixed doubles quarter-finals

Men's doubles second round

Men's singles first round

August 17: Men's singles second round

Men's doubles quarter-finals

Women's doubles second round

August 18: Men's singles quarter-finals

Women's doubles quarter-finals

Mixed doubles semi-finals

Women's singles semi-finals

August 19: Women's singles bronze-medal match

Men's doubles semi-finals

Mixed doubles bronze-medal match

Women's singles final

Mixed doubles final

August 20: Men's singles semi-finals

Men's doubles bronze-medal match

Women's doubles semi-finals

Men's doubles final

August 21: Women's doubles bronze-medal match

Men's singles bronze-medal match

Women's doubles final

Men's singles final

VENUE

Goudi Olympic Hall, in central Athens, which has a capacity

of 4,000.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.intbadfed.org

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