Lesser-known sports
Hurling is an ancient national game of Ireland. It is an outdoor stick-and –ball game between teams of 15 players sometimes it can even become dangerous.
Curling is played on a flat ice rink using flat –bottomed stones with metal handles attached to them. A tee or an iron pin is fixed in the ice at each end of the rink. The aim of the game is to slide the stones from one end of the rink to the other, getting them as near to the tee as possible.
Jai alai is one of the world’s fastest games. It is the native ball game of the Basques –a people who live in the Pyrenees Mountains in French and Spain. Jai alai balls can travel at over 240 kilometers per hour.
Dominoes is a game in which dominoes or `Bones’ are shuffled. The players must match their bones so that total ads up to five or a multiple of five.
Sculling is a rowing –style sports in which the rower uses two oars-one in each hand. In rowing each person uses a single oar.
Orienteering began in Sweden in 1918. It is like cross –country running with a map and compass. They key to success is accurate navigation at speed.
How it began
The word tennis comes from the French word `Tennez’ meaning `take it! Play!’ the game began Egypt, in
Persia and among the Arabs around the thirteenth century. The kings of France and England showed great interest in the game.
Skiing is one of the oldest forms of travel known to man! Skiing began as a sport in Norway. The town of Morgedal in Norway would be snowbound for long period of time. It was necessary to use skis to get about. So the game was born!
Cricket started in England in the fifteenth century. Old newspapers dating back to the 1700s have advertisements of cricket matches. Test cricket was played for the first time in 1877 between Australia and England.
The legendary English cricketer, Dr. w, g. Grace, began layi8ng at the age of nine, and carried on till he was 61.
Using horses for racing seems to be one of the oldest sports enjoyed by man. Horse races were held in Egypt, Babylonia, and Syria. The modern form of horse racing started in England in the twelfth century.
Badminton, adapted from children’s game called battledore and shuttlecock, takes its name from Badminton, England, where it was first played in 1873.
The oldest board game known is about 4500 years old and was found in the runs of Ur, Iraq. The rules of the game have not survived.
In 1365, Edward III of England tired to ban football because it distracted people from archery practice, needed as was training.
The athletes in the first modern Olympic Games, held 1896, were only men. Women were allowed in the games in 1900.
Basketball began in the United States. The US has won the gold medal in basketball in the Olympic each time since 1936, with the excerptions of 1972, 1980 and 1988.
An expert at karate can break several thick planks of food or bricks with one blow of a bare hand or foot.
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