The weirdest sports in the world

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Some sports, like soccer or basketball, are popular mostly everywhere on the planet, but some sports haven’t had the privilege of becoming known in every country, large and small. Some sports were probably not interesting enough to spread out of their country of origin, or they didn’t have the opportunity to become famous.

And some sports are simply so unusual that it’s hard to believe that anyone could have enough imagination to think them up. So whenever you visit a new country, find out what the locals are fond of playing in their free time, because you might discover something really interesting. Until then, here’s a list of the most unusual sports in the world.

Dead Goat Polo, Kyrgystan

The Kyrgyz still share a deeply rooted connection to their traditions, and while their past belligerent nature is as good as forgotten nowadays, they still find an outlet for it through one of their national sports: dead got polo, or buzkashi.

The name is pretty self-explanatory: hundreds of riders gather on Sundays, and they engage in a battle of wits and horsemanship, whose ultimate goal is to gain possession of a dead goat (head and feet cut off, and the hole sewn so as to prevent the spilling of goat guts), and throw it into a circle of tires located at both ends of the field. By the end of the game, you don’t know which is more bedraggled: the goat or the players. But everything is in good fun, and the event is celebrated with a round of vodka or kvas (a type of fermented bread drink).

Wife-carrying, Finland

Again, this sport is pretty much what it says it is: the competitors (which are mostly men, but I hope that this sport is more progressive then its name, and wives can carry their husbands as well if they want), hoist their wives on their shoulders and race through an obstacle course involving sand, water and fences. The rules say that you have to carry somebody’s wife (or your own), without any weight limits for either party. The sport was most likely inspired by folk tales of men stealing women from the neighbouring village.

Cheese-rolling, England

England is no stranger to strange sports (cricket, anyone?), but cheese-rolling surely takes the cake. There are even official cheese-rolling events, where people come mostly for the food and drinks, after which they proceed to chase rolls of cheese down a steep hill.

Cheese rolling is more dangerous than it sounds (there have been instances when one third of the contestants were injured), which is not surprising when you couple alcohol with high speed racing down a hill. The tradition has been going on for over 200 years, and during WWII when ood was being rationed, a wooden “cheese” was used instead.

Kabaddi, Bangladesh

This game originated in Tamil Nadu, as a means of training soldiers for battle, but nowadays it is played only for fun. You need to have really strong lungs for this game, because the most crucial aspect of it is the fact the players have to hold their breath.

The game is played by two teams, and each team sends out “raiders” who have to tag a member of the other team, and then return to their own team’s area while holding their breath and chanting “kabaddi”. Of course, the opponents will try to stop the raider from returning to his team, so as far as sheer effort is concerned, playing kabaddi is no small feat.Today, Kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh.

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