[originaltext] The earliest time when anything like badminton was played was

The earliest time when anything like badminton was played was some two thousand years ago when people in China played a game kicking a kind of shuttlecock around. Much later, in the nineteenth century, a game called "Battledore and shuttlecock" was played indoors in English country homes. Then, in 1873, some army officers who were playing at Badminton House, a large country house in the country near Avon in England, named the game "Badminton". When they returned to their duties in India, they continued to played badminton and produced the first set of rules for the game, which they played out of doors. Soon, in 1875, an officers’ badminton club was stated in Folkestone, on the south coast of England. By 1893, fourteen badminton clubs had been established and together they formed the Badminton Association of England and agreed on a set of Laws of the Game.
    Between 1900 and 1934, the game developed rapidly across Europe, Asia and the USA. Probably, the most influential figure in the sport at that time was a man called George Thomas. He won 21 All-England titles and over eighty international titles.
    The importance of badminton as a world sport was recognized first by the introduction of the World Championships, which were first held in Malmo, Sweden in 1977 and then by its inclusion in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992.