Countries National Sports - the weird and the wonderful

@patootie (3592)
January 15, 2007 3:06pm CST
I have a passion for motor racing .. but one day I got to wondering what national sports were played in which countries .. football was usually the main national sport .. so I started looking for the more obscure sports .. get a load of these .. !! Where possible I have given links to the sports so you can find out more if you wish .. at the time of posting they were all 'live' ... Afghanistan - Buzkashi this literally translates into 'goat killing' .. the object of the game is the first man or team on horseback to pitch a dead calf across the goal line wins .. the game may last as long as a week. http://www.afghan-network.net/Culture/buzkashi.html Austria .. Cross Country Skiing .. and football.. are their passions Canada .. Lacrosse is the official summer sport with Ice Hockey in the winter months Columbia .. Tejo .. quite possibly the only sport in the world to use explosives .. it's similar to the American 'Horseshoes' game ... players toss an object to the target some distance away and try to set off 'Totes' or blasting caps .. the person who can set off the most Totes is the winner. Finland .. Pesäpallo ... (Finnish Baseball) Hong Kong .. Dragon Boat racing .. a wonderfully colourful team event where a drummer beats out a rhythym for the 10 paddlers to power their 30 foot dragon boat to the finish .. check out the website to find some UK venues for Dragon Boat racing http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk/index.php?location=3.2.1.6 Iceland .. Glima .. literally translates as 'The Game of Joy' .. and is a form of wrestling where the aim is to force your opponent to touch the floor anywhere above his elbows or knees ... http://ejmas.com/jwma/articles/2000/jwmaart_kautz_0100.htm Indonesia .. Sepak Takraw .. similar court to Badminton .. but the teams of 3 players can only use their legs or head to get the ball over the nett .. no arms or hands allowed so it's a very agile gymnastic sport. Latvia .. Novuss .. a table game with pucks and the player uses a cue to hit the pucks via a striker http://www.novussusa.com/ Malaysia .. Silat .. Gasing and Wau Silat is a martial arts sport and even has a a computer game based on it .. Gasing is top spinning .. and Wau is kite flying Mexico .. Charrería and Bullfighting .. in Charrería .. Charros (men) compete in roping and riding events and Escaramuza (women) perform daring feats and skills while riding sidesaddle Romania .. Oina .. a sport very similar to baseball and once a game of shepherds Saudi Arabia .. Falconry and Horse Racing Scotland .. Shinty .. very similar to Hockey Switzerland .. Schwingen and Hornussen .. Schwingen is a form of alpine wrestling and Hornussen a kind of Baseball .. http://www.swissworld.org/dvd_rom/eng/customs_2003/content/folklore/schwingen.html Thailand .. Muay Thai .. or Thai Boxing and a martial art http://www.muaythai.com/ United Arab Emirates .. Camel racing http://www.uaeone.com/traditions/camelracing.htm Uzbekistan .. Kurash .. upright jacket wrestling .. an ancient martial art http://www.kurash-ika.org/english/history
1 response
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
15 Jan 07
Wow, some of those are definitely weird alright, the things people get up to, makes ordinary football sound boring in context. I thought the game of joy was a sport only found in kama sutra books. You're a walking encyclopaedia, if I'm ever on who wants to be a millionaire I shall use you as a phone a friend and we'll split the profits!