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.

Liu Kai (simplified Chinese: 刘凯; traditional Chinese: 劉凱; pinyin: Líu Kǎi; born 11 October 1987 in Tianjin, China) is a left-handed pitcher in the New York Yankees organization. Liu Kai was later released by the New York Yankees minor league system for his extremely poor performance along with his Chinese team mate Zhang Zhenwang.

Liu began playing organized baseball at the age of 12, when he was enrolled in a sports school in China. At age 16, he became a professional baseball player when he began playing for the Guangdong Leopards of the China Baseball League. He has also participated as a member of the People's Republic of China National Team.

Liu's best pitch is his fastball, topping out at 84 miles per hour.

On June 18, 2007, became the first baseball player born in the People's Republic of China to sign a Major League Baseball contract with the prior permission of the China Baseball Association, along with Zhang Zhenwang, who also signed with the Yankees. The first baseball player born in the People's Republic of China to sign with a Major League Baseball club was pitcher Wang Chao, who signed with the Seattle Mariners on August 9, 2001.

Simon Santoso (born in Tegal, Central Java, July 29, 1985) is a male badminton player from Indonesia.

When he was young, he joined the Tangkas Jakarta badminton club before joining the Indonesian National team PBSI. In 2005 he won the Robot HCMC Vietnam Satellite and the silver medal at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games. His best results on the world circuit until recently were runner-up finishes at the Singapore (2008), Swiss (2007), and Indonesia Super Series (2008) events . He was also a semi-finalist at the Japan Open Super Series (2007) and the Chinese Taipei Open (2007). In September 2008, Santoso won the Chinese Taipei Open after defeating Roslin Hashim from Malaysia in the final round by scores of 21–18, 13–21, 21–10. In October 2009, he won his first Super Series ever in Denmark Open Super Series, after beating Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the final round, 21-14, 21-6. He won gold in the 2009 Southeast Asian Games by defeating Sony Dwi Kuncoro. In 2011, He retained his gold medal in 2011 Southeast Asian Games by beating Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in 3 sets. In 2012, He helped Indonesia Garuda to win the inaugural Axiata cup 2012.

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.