Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor.

The shuttlecock (or shuttle) is a feathered projectile whose unique aerodynamic properties cause it to fly differently than the balls used in most racquet sports; in particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock to decelerate more rapidly than a ball. Shuttlecocks have a much higher top speed, when compared to other racquet sports. Because shuttlecock flight is affected by wind, competitive badminton is played indoors. Badminton is also played outdoors as a casual recreational activity, often as a garden or beach game.

Lin Dan (Chinese: 林丹; pinyin: Lín Dān; born October 14, 1983 in Longyan, Fujian) is a professional badminton player from China. He is a four-time world champion, five time All England champion and the reigning Olympic champion. Widely considered to be the greatest badminton player of all time, by the age of 28 Lin had completed the "Super Grand Slam", having won all nine major titles in world badminton: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup, Super Series Masters Finals, All England Open, Asian Games, and Asia Championships, becoming the first and only player to achieve this feat.

He has been nicknamed "Super Dan" by his fans.

In his early years, Lin was encouraged to learn to play piano by his parents, but chose to play badminton at the age of five. He joined the sports troop of the People's Liberation Army at the age of 13 and has been part of China's national badminton team since 2001 when he was 18.

On April 10, 2008, he created controversy when he struck coach Ji Xinpeng in front of his teammates and reporters during the warm-up tournament ahead of the Thomas Cup. The incident was reportedly triggered by Lin being unhappy with Ji's starting lineup for the tournament.

Datuk Lee Chong Wei (simplified Chinese: 李宗伟; traditional Chinese: 李宗偉; pinyin: Lǐ Zōngwěi; born October 21, 1982 in Georgetown, Penang) is a professional badminton player from Malaysia who resides in Bukit Mertajam. Lee won the silver medal in the 2008 Olympic Games, thus becoming the first Malaysian to reach the final of the men's singles event and ending Malaysia's Olympic medal drought since the 1996 Games. This achievement also earned him the title Datuk, and a description by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a national hero.

As a singles player, Lee was ranked first worldwide on August 21, 2008. He is the third Malaysian men's singles shuttler after Rashid Sidek and Roslin Hashim to achieve such a ranking (since official rankings were first kept in the 1980s), and is the only Malaysian shuttler to hold the ranking for more than two weeks.

Lee is one of the most accomplished Malaysian badminton players having won two All-England championships. However, he is still searching for his first Olympic Games, World Championship and Asian Games titles as the world number 1.

Chen Long (Chinese: 谌龙; born January 18, 1989 in Shashi, Jingzhou, Hubei) is a male badminton player from China.

Chen participated in the Korea Open Super Series in January. He made it through to the semi-finals before losing to Danish player Peter Gade, 13–21 21–10 17–21. A week later, in the Malaysia Open, he lost in the opening round to Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand.

At the prestigious All England Open in March, he registered an impressive victory over 8th seed Jan Jorgensen in the first round but fell to Korea's Shon Wan-ho 18–21 21–18 19–21 in the second round. He followed up this disappointment with his best ever performance in a Super Series event by making it through to the final of the Swiss Open, where he finished runner-up to compatriot Chen Jin.

Chen was part of the Chinese team that won gold at the 2010 Thomas Cup in Kuala Lumpur. He only featured in their opening match against Peru, taking just 31 minutes to beat his opponent, before being replaced in the team by Bao Chunlai for the later rounds. Chen's first individual title of 2010 came at the Bitburger Open in Germany, where he beat Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21–3 12–21 21–9 in the final of the GP Gold event. His good form continued when he finished runner-up to Lin Dan at the China Masters two weeks later, going down 15–21 21–13 14–21 to the reigning Olympic champion.

Boonsak Ponsana (Thai: บุญศักดิ์ พลสนะ; born February 22, 1982 in Bangkok) is a male badminton player from Thailand.

His younger sister Salakjit Ponsana is also part of the Thailand badminton team.

Ponsana played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men' singles, defeating Chris Dednam of South Africa and Lee Hyun-il of Korea in the first two rounds. In the quarterfinals, Ponsana defeated Ronald Susilo of Singapore 15-10, 15-1. Ponsana advanced to the semifinals, in which he lost to Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 15-9, 15-2. Playing in the bronze medal match, he again lost to an Indonesian, this time Soni Dwi Kuncoro by a score of 15-11, 17-16 for a fourth place finish.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Ponsana was defeated in the Round of 64. In 2004 he won THAILAND OPEN 2004 , In 2007 he won the AVIVA OPEN SINGAPORE SUPER SERIES 2007, and in 2008 he won the Indian Open Grand prix. Boonsak Ponsana competed in Super Series Final 2009 but he did not qualify for the semi-finals. He played for Thailand in 2009 SEA Games in Laos, bringing bronze for Thailand in men's team.