Badminton is a sport that has been played since the 19th century. The earliest racquets used to play the sport were made of wood. These racquets are no longer used due to materialistic advances and also the demands of the sport’s gameplay.
Before 1963, when a player hit a shot wherein the shuttle’s base made contact with the frame of the wooden racquet, it was deemed illegal. This was called a wood shot. A wood shot resulted in a fault before 1963.
In 1963, the International Badminton Federation made wood shots legal and acceptable because of two reasons. First, these shots are purely unintentional. Second, the shots played are hit through the equipment itself, making it unworthy of being a fault. Chong Teik, one of the three infamous Oon brothers was the Malaysian representative and executive committee member of the International Badminton Federation. He was instrumental in making wood shots legal in professional badminton.
Even though racquets are now made of carbon fibre, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, the terminology of wood shot continues to live. Shots made from the frame of the racquet are now referred as wood shots. They are not routinely practiced and are a chance occurrence on the badminton court.
Wood shots travel in a direction and pace against the shot maker’s actual plan. Thus, in order to maintain the decorum and conduct of the sport, should a player win a point because of a wood shot, they are supposed to apologise to the opponent for winning it by making an unintentional shot.
