When moving to a new culture, you might hear of a new sport that piques your curiosity. But whether you choose to get involved as a spectator or a participant is up to you!
Wife carrying
Eukonkanto (literally ‘wife carrying’) is a summertime race in Finland. As the name implies, a husband must carry his wife (minimum weight: 49kg) along a 253.5 metre track with sand and water obstacles, just to make things interesting. Besides fame and glory, the winners of the Wife Carrying World Championship (established 1992) receive the wife’s weight in beer. Kippis!
All down hill
Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, held annually in Gloucester, England, has gained international notoriety in recent years as a spectacle. Who couldn’t enjoy watching droves of people chasing a round of cheese down a very steep hill? The first person to the bottom wins (and, we assume, keeps the cheese).
Keep it up!
Sepak Takraw, a hugely popular game in Malaysia and Thailand, looks like a mix of volleyball and football. With a hollow ball made of rattan or light plastic, teams of three compete using their feet, shoulders or heads to control the ball and return it over the net. In both countries, you will often see locals playing for fun in public places, where they will try to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible, with extra kudos for flamboyance.
Breathless tagging
Kabbadi (from the Tamil word ‘kai-pidi’ ) is a professional sport in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. With seven players on each side, the teams take turns to send a ‘raider’ into the opponents’ half, where they have to ‘tag’ as many players as possible before returning successfully to their own half. If that sounds easy enough, well, the raider also has to keep shouting ‘kabbadi, kabbadi’ to prove they are not taking a breath.
The Wheelbarrow Olympics
Every year, Hosszúhetény village in Hungary hosts ‘Talicskaolimpia’ – a.k.a. ‘The Wheelbarrow Olympics’. The cultural event, which also features music and dance shows, involves a series of wheelbarrow races. The prize for winners? Beer, of course. Cheers, or as they say in Hungary, egészségére!
Photo: not for everyone… a high-energy game of Sepak Takraw ; Incheon_AsianGames_Sepaktakraw_02 by Korea.net / Republic of Korea, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
