SHUTTLE badminton wasn't popular sport in Mysore, as in the rest of South India. It was played only with in the clubs of defence establishments, and few people outside were aware of such a game. The state's first association with the game was way back in 1900, when it was introduced at Belgaum Club, which was built that year. The game at Belgaum Club was played with wooden bats instead of rackets and resembled badminton's ancestor, battledore and shuttlecock, more than the modern game. It was little more than a social pastime, played on coir matting, Tournaments were held, but restricted to club members, with the 'Jumbled Doubles' being the most popular event.
The game did not spread beyond the club, and the rest of the state had no inking of shuttle badminton until the early 1950s.
It is not surprising that, given the broad division of Bangalore into (British/ Anglo-Indian dominated) Cantonment and (Indian-dominated) City, shuttle badminton was relatively better known in Cantonment than in City. The only badminton played in Bangalore was within the well-protected walls of the defence campuses or in the Cantonment clubs, such as Bowring Institute and Century Club, but that was no more than a social pastime, and restricted to a few. There were two open-air courts beside a church on Brigade Road, and near the General Post Office on Queen's Road, both in the Cantonment area, where Anglo-Indians used to play.
In 1949, a hall adjoining the Canara Union building was constructed to host gatherings during weddings and other civic functions. When the hall was being constructed, Ramesh Padukone, Prakash Padukone's father and his friends requested them to make the hall big enough to accommodate a court. The hall was completed in December 1950, the Golden Jubilee year of Canara Union.
Ramesh and his friends marked the court, put up the net, and began playing. At about the same time, someone named Solomon, who was with the public sector HMT, started shuttle badminton at Malleswaram Association, a club not far from Canara Union.
