Rackets

At a glance

• The source links early play to London's Fleet Prison and later public-school adoption.
• English players have historically been prominent.

Player profile. Requires strength, courage around a hard fast ball, endurance, and precise anticipation of wall rebounds. The one-ounce ball is small, hard, and fast, so early recognition protects the player as well as improving shot selection. Strength must be paired with restraint when two people share a large enclosed rebound space.

Where it happens

Court approximately 60 ft by 30 ft (18.28 m by 9.14 m), with high side and front walls and a lower back wall; front-wall service and play lines govern legal shots. The 60 ft room is twice as long as it is wide, with a 30 ft front and side wall and a back wall half that height. A low play board and higher service line create a demanding vertical window.

• Court approximately 60 ft by 30 ft (18.28 m by 9.14 m), with high side and front walls and a lower back wall; front-wall service and play lines govern legal shots. The 60 ft room is twice as long as it is wide, with a 30 ft front and side wall and a back wall half that height. A low play board and higher service line create a demanding vertical window.

What you need

• catgut-strung racket
• small hard ball
• court shoes
• eye protection

How to play

1. Serve from the box to the front wall and opposite service court.
2. Alternate returns before a second bounce.
3. Keep each shot above the front-wall play line.
4. The serving side seeks 15 points.

The essential rules

1. Only the serving side can score.
2. The serve begins inside the service box.
3. A serve strikes the front wall above the service line.
4. The rebound must enter the opposite service court.
5. Returns must reach the front wall above the play line.
6. The ball may bounce once before return.
7. A failed receiving return gives the server a point.
8. A failed serving-side return transfers service.
9. The first side to 15 wins the game.

How the result is decided

Server-only scoring to 15 points. Fifteen points completes a game, but only the serving side can add them. A receiving error therefore increases the total, while a serving-side miss changes possession without automatically giving away a point.

Fouls and penalties

• bad service placement
• front-wall hit below the play line
• second bounce
• out-of-court return
• obstruction

Techniques

• power serve
• low drive
• wall angle
• volley

Tactics

• retain service
• strike low and hard
• use the large side walls
• move opponents away from center

Disciplines and variants

• singles
• doubles

Competition landscape

• World Rackets Championship
• school and club championships

Records in the reference

No stable record table is published here. Records change; use the current governing-body source before acting.

How the sport developed

The game grew from prison-yard play into an organized British school and club sport during the nineteenth century. Play associated with London’s Fleet Prison acquired respectability after adoption by nineteenth-century schools and clubs. Its scale and hard equipment preserve an older branch of the family from which squash developed.

• Its compact ball is heavier than its size suggests.

Play it in India

Organisation reference

No dated organisation reference found

Recognition state

Not established by the current MYAS snapshot

SAI NCOE discipline rows

No matching centre row found

Khelo India discipline

Not established

Olympic programme

Not a current core-programme sport

India Olympic medals

No sport-level total in current sources

Evidence and currency

This is an original KhelPath explainer assembled from editorial research. It is orientation, not an authoritative rulebook.

Current governing-body rules link: not yet verified.

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