Badminton was cool?

Badminton a smash hit

Badminton nets new popularity as Asian arrivals reinvigorate game

'Steven Giang, a native of China, is a badminton fanatic who happily shells out $500 for a stash of shuttlecocks and polishes his strategy by staying up until 3 a.m. to watch live video of Asian tournaments. When his wife announced she wanted to relocate to Colorado from California - the American mecca of badminton - he refused to go unless she first found a place to play.

They moved to Castle Rock in April, and faithfully commute more than 40 miles every Thursday night to a badminton club at the Westminster Recreation Center, where play has become so popular that a crowd of 50, and growing, sometimes waits an hour for a court.

They smash birdies with guys like Paul Sasseville, 31, a former junior national champion from Canada who totes around a BlueKnight badminton bag stuffed with seven rackets, worth about $1,400.

And with women like Sabine Diehl of Highlands Ranch, the first Romanian to win a gold medal in the Balkan badminton championships.

"It's crazy," she says. "Badminton has become really popular."'