These 19 sports will leave you raking your brains on the definition of the word ‘sports’. One thing is for sure, entertainment at its best.
1. Wife carrying
With its roots in Finland, this sport is challenging in its own rights. The husbands are supposed to race, while carrying their wives on the back. It is sometimes referred to as ‘wife running’
Qualifications: The wife has to be 49 Kgs and more and there are obstacles across the stretch, within which if one drops the wife, a penalty of 15 seconds is given.
If you thought the games were plain ridiculous, the prize is even more ludicrous: beer equivalent to the wife’s weight.
2. Extreme ironing
This sport is quite popular contrary to expectations. Contestants are expected to iron a shirt in an extreme location. There is even a special board for the sport ‘extreme ironing board’. It describes the sport as a dangerous sport that gives the thrill of an extreme location whilst performing a task that requires perfection. This is the buzz of the game.
3. Man vs. Horse
A marathon race (35 Kms) where runners compete with horse riders. It is an annual race, in Llanwrytd wells in the United Kingdom.
4. Buzkashi
In Turkish, Buzkashi means ‘goat bashing’. This is a popular sport in Central Asia with its roots in Afghanistan which involves dragging a dead goat towards a goal by horse mounted riders. The sport is regulated by the Afghan Olympics Federation. The players are not allowed to intentionally dismount other players.
5. Ferret Legging
This is one of the strangest games as contestants are competing on who can with stand a ferret in their pants for the longest. The world record holder has 5 hours 30 minutes in endurance. This is popular in England, whose origin is traced to when poachers used to hide ferrets in their pants.
6. Capoiera
A Brazilian martial art match that incorporates music, dance and acrobatics. With its roots traced in African slaves in Brazil. Capoiera has gained popularity as far as scenes in popular movies aping the moves inspired by the sport. As the tempo of the music increases, the pace increases. This makes the sport very entertaining.
7. Wall of death
Just as the name suggests, this game is quite dangerous. With a wall 30 ft high, performers defy the law of gravity as they ride in a circular motion by pulling stunts such as riding with their bodies popped out of their cars at high speed.
8. Cheese rolling
Competitors chase after an eight pound round Gloucester cheese down a slope. The winner gets the cheese, mostly after getting injured a couple of timers from the scramble from other players and the steep slope.
9. Competitive eating
This hot dog eating competition held on every 4th July seeks to award the competitors who down the most hot dogs in the shortest time possible.
10. Chessboxing
Berlin is the birthplace of chessboxing. A hybrid sport of chess and boxing, the players alternate between the two sports, starting and ending with chess. The break in between the sport lasts 1 minute.
11. Footvolley
This game is combines football and beach volleyball. The game has its origins in Brazil but has gained international popularity. Basically, no hands are used in the game. One scores when the ball falls on the opponent’s court.
12. Yukigassen
Yukigassen is a snow ball fight that originated in Japan. Around 90 snowballs are prepared in advance, and when the game begins, each player should hit as many competitors as possible, without being hit to avoid elimination.0
13. Underwater hockey
Two opposing teams try to score against each other. The puke is thrown into the middle of the pool and the players have to score against the opponent’s goal post.
14. Quidditch
This game is inspired by the Harry Potter novel. It has elements of rugby, dodge ball and tag. Two teams each consisting of seven players riding broomsticks.
15. Bathtubbing
This game is basically a water race that substitutes a boat for a bathtub. This game originated from British Colombia with the goal of showcasing the town of Nanaimo to the world.
16. Beard and Mustache championship
This is a biennial championship that seeks to find the most lengthy, stylish beard.
17. Bedracing
Bed racing is a sport with a course where the contestants are supposed to decorate the bed with the theme of the year. Each team consists of seven; one on the bed and the six pushing it. The bed should have wheels and also be able to float because the track has several obstacles such as water.
18. Bog snorkeling
Just as the name suggests, contestants are required to swim in a trench filled with water through a pit bog, 110 meters long, within the shortest possible time. Its origin is in the United Kingdom. The game has gained popularity over the years and has an annual championship every August.
19. Joggling
Jogging while juggling. This sport has different categories; speed jogglers who aim at covering the longest distance within the shortest time possible, error free jogglers who aim at running the longest distance without making a mistake and trick jogglers whose aim is to run a distance of 1.6 Kms whist performing as many tricks as possible.
