WHEN two athletic 27-year-old Britons consistently smashed a small collection of feathers to try to outwit wily Chinese opponents in a Greek hall, a nation held its breath.

Young Olympians Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson were playing for their country in the final of the badminton mixed doubles competition in Athens.

Having disposed of the rest of the international threat - including some of Denmark's best - to reach this elevated position they were guaranteed at least silver medals. But, European champions Nathan and Gail were going for gold.

Unfortunately for them, and their country, former Olympic champions Gao Ling and Jun Zhang were just as determined, and proved too much for them on the day.

The final game resulted in a heart-stopping 15-12 win for the Chinese No.2 pair, although the Brits had given, as they later admitted, the performance of their lives.

It was a fine display of the Far East children's game that the English took and made into a sport, but which the originators have long since taken back and made their own. Dammit, badminton is their national sport.

However, the immediate effect of this entertaining and high-profile final is that badminton suddenly found its way into the living rooms of millions of viewers.

All of which may well mean a boost to this minority racquet sport which is actually played by more people in the UK than any other country.

As Radio Five commentator John Inverdale astutely pointed out the morning after the historic final, if he were the chairman of a British badminton club he would be immediately leafleting local people to invite them to come along and try out the sport on the back of the massive interest.

Roger Taylor agrees with this sentiment. He is the chairman of Markland Hill badminton club at Heaton - the oldest club in the country at 103-years-old.

"The Olympic final provided just the profile that badminton needs and, yes, we should be taking advantage of it," he said.

There was a general increase of interest in the sport nationally after the Commonwealth Games' badminton events were staged at the Arena at Horwich two years ago.

"But we didn't see much of that at club level then," added Roger, "although Markland Hill is the kind of family club which has consistently attracted players, especially in the last year."

Bolton as a town, and Lancashire as a county, have always been a badminton stronghold.

The Bolton Badminton League, although now slightly reduced in size since its glory days of a couple of decades ago, compares well with other local leagues and remains pretty strong.

The difficulty, as always, concerns attracting younger players.

"We now have more older players than ever in our local leagues. This means that the veterans' scene is very buoyant and that Bolton has many players doing very well," commented Roger.

He is an England international, a former national champion himself, and one of a large Bolton contingent off to the European Veterans' Championships in Spain next month.

The down side, however, is that fewer youngsters - even though they are attracted to the sport and may play it in the garden or at the sports centre - may go into the grassroots local leagues. This does not mean, though, that the most promising will not be picked up early to be fast-tracked to possible success.

Bolton has a hard-working Badminton Development Group, formed in partnership with Bolton Metro. As a result, the town boasts its own badminton activator in Jeff Johnson, who runs courses in schools and youth groups.

And the league has a development liaison officer in Ray Schofield who is busy with a variety of junior and senior initiatives.

"From September," explained Ray, "anyone who would like to play badminton should be able to find a venue nearby. They only need to ring me and I'm happy to help."

In the meantime, badminton has moved on considerably from local church halls where a couple of enthusiasts would pit their wits against each other - but only after they had shifted the hymn books off the side of the court.

Nathan and Gail and all those Olympic hopefuls have demonstrated once and for all that badminton has finally grown up in our hi-tech sports centres to become a sport fit for the 21st century.

Useful addresses

Ray Schofield, Bolton League development liaison officer: 01257- 480961/01204-667498

The Badminton Association of England, Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge, Milton Keynes MK8 9LA, tel. 01908-268400, email enquiries @baofe.co.uk.