EVALUATION OF VISUAL-PERCEPTUAL ABILITIES IN BADMINTON ATHLETES

Purpose: Visual-perceptual abilities play a pivotal role in sports performance, particularly in disciplines requiring rapid decision making and precise perception. In badminton, athletes have to follow fast-moving objects, anticipate opponent movements, and execute precise strokes. The present study aimed to assess and compare visual performance across a range of domains between competitive badminton players and age-matched controls. It was hypothesized that badminton expertise would be associated with superior performance on multiple visual and oculomotor function measures. Methods: Seventy-two participants were recruited: 36 competitive badminton players (21M/15F, age 22.9 ± 2.4 years, 13.2 ± 3.1 years of practice) and 36 controls (21M/15F, age 22.3 ± 1.7 years). Visual perceptual assessments were conducted using the Tetra system and the EyeSwift Pro system and included: binocular visual acuity (LogMAR), stereopsis (Wirt test), reaction time (ms), pursuit eye movements, saccadic latency and velocity (ms), contrast sensitivity (0.5–12 cpd), and fixation stability. Due to non-normal distributions in most variables, Mann–Whitney U tests were employed for con tinuous variables, with effect sizes calculated as r =|Z|/HN. Chi square tests were used for categorical pursuit variables. Bonferroni correction was applied to control for multiple comparisons. Results: After Bonferroni correction, badminton players demon strated significantly superior performance in five visual domains. Visual acuity was markedly better in both left eye (- 0.085 ± 0.08 LogMAR, p\0.001, r = 0.528) and right eye (- 0.079 ± 0.76 LogMAR, p\0.001, r = 0.524). Reaction time showed the largest effect (0.269 ± 0.058 vs 0.411 ± 0.072 s, p\0.001, r = 0.760). Overall contrast sensitivity was superior (p\0.001, r = 0.414), and right eye saccadic latency was reduced (p = 0.002, r = 0.364). No significant differences were found in stereopsis (p = 0.149), left eye saccadic parameters, fixation stability, saccadic velocity, or pursuit movements after correction. Conclusions: This comprehensive analysis provides evidence that competitive badminton players possess superior visual abilities across multiple domains. These findings support the hypothesis that high level badminton participation is associated with enhanced visual performance, likely reflecting both self-selection of individuals with superior visual abilities and training-induced neuroplastic adaptations. The lack of group differences in saccadic peak velocity, despite shorter latencies in badminton players, may indicate that visual expertise in this population is primarily associated with faster initiation rather than alterations in the kinematic properties of eye movements. Future longitudinal studies should investigate the relative contributions of predisposition versus training-induced adaptations.