National sport
A national sport is a sport or
game that is considered to be a culturally intrinsic part of a country or nation. In
American English the term national pastime is often used.
Although there are normally no official parameters towards defining what is a national sport, there are some general characteristics that most national sports share:
* The rules and objectives of the sport or game are known in fairly great detail in the country or nation.
* The game or sport is widely played or watched in the country or nation.
* The game or sport has a long history of popularity or extreme current popularity in the country or nation.
Encyclopedia
A
national sport is a sport or
game that is considered to be a culturally intrinsic part of a country or nation. In
American English the term
national pastime is often used.
Although there are normally no official parameters towards defining what is a national sport, there are some general characteristics that most national sports share:
- The rules and objectives of the sport or game are known in fairly great detail in the country or nation.
- The game or sport is widely played or watched in the country or nation.
- The game or sport has a long history of popularity or extreme current popularity in the country or nation.
In some countries, sport or game can become the official national pastime by mandate of the government, such as with
Canada and
lacrosse in 1859.
In other countries, where the sport or game has such a long history, such as with
baseball in the
United States or
sumo wrestling in
Japan, the sport or game is often considered a
de facto "official" national pastime.
List of current countries' national sports
...
-
Cricket ...
is the pastime for most Belgians .
Football is also quite popular.
- Bhutan - Archery
- Bolivia - Football
- Brazil - Football is considered the national sport, Futsal an indoor variant of Football is the most practiced and volleyball also has a large number of participants.
- Bulgaria - Football. Competitively weightlifting and in chess.
- Canada - Lacrosse is the official summer sport and ice hockey is the official winter sport, but hockey is by far the sport most closely followed, and most closely linked to national identity. Lacrosse is a national sport for primarily historical reasons: sports like basketball, Canadian football , soccer, golf, baseball, tennis are all much more popular. Canada also fields one of the major national teams in the sport of curling.
- Cambodia - Kickboxing
- Cameroon - Football
- Chile - Football. Tennis is also very popular.
- People's Republic of China - Table tennis, basketball and football. Many people also practise kung fu.
- Ethiopia – Athletics
- Hong Kong - Dragon boat racing, badminton, windsurfing, rugby, fencing and Cricket, football is the most widely followed televised sport.
- Republic of China - baseball
- Colombia - Tejo is the traditional sport, as is bullfighting, but football is the main attraction, followed by baseball and basketball.
- Costa Rica - Football
- Croatia - Football. Handball, water polo and basketball are also widely popular.
- Cuba - Baseball
- Czech Republic - Ice hockey and football are almost equally popular.
- Denmark - Football
- Dominican Republic - Baseball
- Egypt - Football
- Estonia - Basketball and football are almost equally popular. Cross-country skiing in winter.
- Fiji - Rugby union, particularly Sevens
- Finland - Pesäpallo is the de-facto national sport, but ice hockey is most followed.
- France - Football, but rugby union is popular in the south. Basketball is also played and Cycling is widely followed.
- Gambia - Wrestling
- Georgia
- Georgia [i], a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia: **Formerly ...
- Football and Rugby Union. - Germany - Football
- Greece
Greece lies at the juncture of Europe [i], Asia [i], and Africa [i]. ...
-
Football is most popular, closely followed by
basketball and
volleyball.
Throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic [i] importance because of its centr ...
-
Wrestling is the traditional national sport, but
football is by far the most popular.
Futsal and
martial arts are also widely practised.
One of the world's oldest civilization [i]s, Korea began with the founding of Gojoseon [i] in 2333 ...
-
Tae kwon do is the traditional national sport, though
baseball is highly popular as is
football and
table tennis. The computer game
StarCraft is so popular in South Korea that is commonly referred to as a "national sport".
...
- Silat, gasing, and
wau are traditional sports, but
football followed a close second by
badminton are the most popular sports today.
