The All England Open Badminton Championships, or simply All England, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious badminton tournaments. Played annually, it developed after the success of the world's first badminton tournament held in Guildford in 1898. The tournament was successfully organised on April 4, 1899, however only three categories (Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles and Mixed Doubles) were originally staged. Both Men's and Women's Singles were added the following year. The first three tournaments were named "The Open English Championships". It was eventually considered (especially after the first Thomas Cup series in 1949) the unofficial world championship of the sport until 1977 when the International Badminton Federation launched its official championships. Since 1984 the tournament has been exclusively sponsored by Yonex.

The tournaments were halted twice: during World War I from 1915 to 1919 and World War II from 1940 to 1946.

The tournament has outgrown eight venues, and is now played at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.

England ⁱ/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.

The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.

Muhammad Ahsan Dar (Kashmiri: محمد احسن ڑار), (born 1960 in Sariwarpora Pattan, Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir) is the founder and former head of the Hizbul Mujahideen and school teacher from Pattan Baramulla. He went across the Line of Control to Pakistan in 1988. After completing his training there he came back to Kashmir Valley in 1990 to start the secession struggle for Kashmir. An ethnic Kashmiri, he belonged to the Dar tribe.

Hendra Setiawan (born in Pemalang, Central Java, August 24, 1984) is a male badminton player from Indonesia and one of the world's leading doubles players.

In 2005, with Markis Kido, he won men's doubles at the Asian Badminton Championships and the Indonesia Open. In 2006, they also won the Jakarta Satellite, the Hong Kong Open and the 2006 China Open (badminton)China Open after defeating China's Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, the 2006 IBF (BWF) world champions in the finals.

2007 was a big year for Setiawan and Kido. They were crowned world champions after defeating Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae from South Korea, 21–19 and 21–19, at the World Championship finals in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They also captured the China Super Series after defeating China 's Guo Zhengdong and Xie Zhongbo and the BWF World Cup Invitation after beating Malaysia's Mohd. Fairuzizuan Mohd. Tazari and Lin Woon Fui at Yiyang, Hunan. In July they were runners-up at the China Masters Super Series, this time losing to Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, 15–21, 16–21. They won the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold event in September over the Danish veterans Lars Paaske and Jonas Rasmussen. In December they won the Hong Kong Super Series after overcoming two of Indonesia's "all-time" greats Candra Wijaya and Tony Gunawan 21–12, 18–21, 21–13 in the final. At the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, they helped Indonesia win the men's team gold medal, and won men's doubles gold in the individual events after defeating Hendri Kurniawan Saputra and Hendra Wijaya, Indonesian-born players who represented Singapore.

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.