Badminton is a popular sport played with lightweight racquets and a shuttlecock. It is said to have been originated in Poona, now Pune, where the British army officers picked it up in the 1860s. The sport was called Poona. It was introduced in England in about 1873 at the country estate of the Duke of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England. The estate was called Badminton, after which the name ‘badminton’ was given to the sport.