FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 1996

DAILY U.S. BADMINTON OLYMPIC PRESS RELEASE - 22 Days 'til the Games

SHUTTLE SCUTTLE

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) - What sets the sport of badminton apart
from all other racquet sports is the fact that a shuttlecock, rather
than a ball, is struck.  The following is everything you would ever
want to know about our fine, feathered friend.

While most Americans are familiar with the flimsy plastic "birdie"
from the outdoor badminton set,  world class badminton athletes use a
shuttlecock consisting of 16 goose feathers fastened to a leather
covered cork tip. Doubles players tend to be the game's hardest
hitters, as it is typical for Indonesia's Ricky Subagja and Rexy
Mainaky smash a 5 gram shuttlecock up to 200 miles per hour.  Seeing
what great force these players hit with, it is easy to understand why
shuttlecocks only last about 4-6 points in a top-level badminton
match. 

At the 1992 Olympic badminton competition in Barcelona, an estimated
232 dozen (2784) shuttlecocks were used, and that was without a mixed
doubles event.  In Atlanta (with a mixed doubles event), there will be
700 dozen shuttles available for use at the tournament, and another
300 dozen for practice, accounting for a whopping total of 12,000
shuttles! If you thought qualifying for the Olympics as a competitor
is difficult, making the grade is an Olympic shuttlecock is twice as
tough.  Yonex Corporation, the official racquet and equipment supplier
for the Olympic Games, selects only the "perfect flying birds" for the
Olympic competition.  Out of every 100 tubes (1200 birds) screened,
only about 12 will meet the standard. 

Here's how shuttlecocks are manufactured.

White geese and ducks are raised for food and other uses on large
farms in Asian countries such as China and Taiwan.  After the geese
are rounded up, their feathers are plucked and sorted into left and
right wing piles.  Only six or seven specific feathers from each wing
can be used to produce a shuttlecock (because of their curvature), and
the left and right wings cannot be mixed.  Therefore, 3 geese can
produce 2 shuttlecocks (6 feathers x 3 left wings + 6 feathers x 3
right wings = Two 16 feather shuttlecocks with two feathers to spare).


(FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT PAUL PAWLACZYK, USBA
COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AT 719-578-4808,  AFTER JULY 6TH IN ATLANTA
GA. - 1-800-946-4646, PIN 2004333)