Para badminton: courts and extra equipment in the Laws
Which court each Para badminton group plays on, and what the Laws say about wheelchairs and crutches.
Why read this
The Laws of Badminton are written for everyone, with extra clauses for Para badminton (the Laws mark them in italics). This page covers only what the Laws themselves say about courts and equipment (BWF Laws of Badminton, edition in force 26 April 2025).
Which court
- Wheelchair Badminton: the court is the one in Diagrams D (singles) and E (doubles) of the Laws (Law 1.1.1).
- Standing classes playing half-court: the singles court is the one in Diagram F (Law 1.1.2). The diagram caption names class SL 3.
- All other standing classes: the standard court (Diagram A), for singles and doubles.
The service courts follow the same diagrams (Law 9.1.3.1). In the half-court classes, the server and the receiver serve from and receive in their respective service courts, without the odd and even score rule of standard singles (Law 10.1.3).
Extra equipment
For Para badminton, a wheelchair or a crutch may be used (Law 5.2). Three conditions apply to a wheelchair:
- the player's body may be fixed to the wheelchair with an elastic belt;
- the wheelchair may have supporting wheels, which may extend beyond the main wheel;
- the player's feet must be fixed to the footrest.
A wheelchair or a crutch counts as part of the player's person (Law 13.3.4.1): if the shuttle touches it during a rally, it is the same as touching the player.
Limits
- The dimensions of the courts are only in the diagrams of the Laws, which this page does not reproduce; check the diagrams.
- The Laws name only class SL 3 for the half-court; they do not define the classes. Classification is outside the Laws, so we do not describe it.
- Law 1.1.1 says "Diagrams D and E, respectively" without saying which is singles; the captions of the diagrams do.
- The Laws do not say how an elastic belt or a footrest fixing is checked.
General practice advice: play within your limits and stop if something hurts.