Sport is one of the most important aspects of the human culture that has been existing for many thousands of years already. To date, people had invented many different kinds of sports, many of which became well-known almost in every country, including football, hockey, basketball, and etc.
However, there are also some unusual sports that can become good alternatives for those sports lovers, who like everything unusual and want to try something new. In this article, we collected Top 10 strangest sports existing nowadays that are definitely worth trying to make your life funnier and more interesting. Let’s take a look at these unusual and odd sports around the world.
Buzkashi
Though it seems to be weird, Buzkashi is a national sport in such Central Asian countries as Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
The name of it literally means “goat bashing” and involves horse-mounted players, who attempt to drag the carcass of a goat toward a goal. It is quite an old kind of sport, and previously it could last for several days, though today the time of every match is limited.
An interesting fact is that once Buzkashi was banned in Afghanistan, however nowadays people play it again. Usually, Burzkashi matches are conducted each Friday and are financially supported by wealthy sponsors.
Watch video about Buzkashi
Jai-Alai
It is a Basque version squash, and the Basque call it the fastest sport in the world. It is a very extreme and even dangerous game due to the shots made with a hard ball by a player at a speed of 300 km/h.
One player should hit a ball against a wall with a help of a long basket that is tied to wrists, while the player from the opposite team catches the ball in a scooped racquet before hitting it back at the wall.
Though it does not seem to be very popular kind of sport, it is widely played in the Philippines, North America, and Spain.
Kabaddi
Originally this kind of sport is from India, but very quickly it spread to other Asian countries. Though nobody can say for sure when this sport appeared, Indians claim that there is historical evidence that it was already played 4000 years ago.
This game is played between two opposing teams on the field, each half of which belongs to each team.
Scoring in this game is quite easy: teams score one point for each player from an opposite team who they put out of the game.
Putting out can be done in several different ways: either while attacking, which leads to putting out a team player, or while defending, which does not allow a team player to return to his half of the field. In general, kabaddi can be defined as a combination of wrestling and rugby.
Eukonkanto – Wife Carrying
This sports game is originally from Finland, though it is also played in Estonia and Sweden. The rules of it are quite simple and funny at the same time: men have to race with their wives on the shoulders with the length of the track of 250 meters.
It orders to make the competition for challenging and difficult, there are also a water trap and two jumps on the track. It is also important to note that too slim wives cannot participate: the minimum weight of women is 45 kilos, but there is no upper limit!
However, as funny as it might be, it’s a serious sports event at least in Finland, with a lot of fans, TV-visibility, sponsors, and teams all over the world.
Watch below video of Eukonkanto World Championships
Chess boxing
This hybrid between boxing and chess was probably developed by a person who considered chess too boring and wanted to make this quite game more lively and funnier.
Though it seems to be more like a joke, it is a real sport that has been played for many years already with real tournaments in India, Great Britain, and Russia. One match of chess boxing includes eleven rounds: six rounds are for chess and the rest five rounds are for boxing. If a person wins any of these games, he becomes the winner of the whole match.
It might really sound like a joke, but if you think more carefully, it’s actually very challenging sports. It requires boxing skills i.e. good physical shape as well as chess skills i.e. intelligence. Find out more about Chess Boxing from WCBO.org.
Underwater hockey
You definitely know about ice hockey and field hockey, but have you ever heard about underwater hockey? It is difficult to say when and how this sport has appeared. Its inventor must have been a very curious person with a sense of humor, who thought: what would happen of ice melts during the match and hockey players have to continue playing in the water?
The rules of underwater hockey are similar to a usual one: there are two teams, and the task of players is to push a puck to the opponents’ gates with the help of a special stick. The only one difference is that the game is occurring underwater.
Extreme ironing
If you think that ironing is just a day-to-day duty and it cannot be considered as a kind of sport, then you probably have not heard about extreme ironing. It is a very funny and interesting sport where participants have to iron under unusual or even extreme circumstances.
It could be a canoe, the edge of the cliff, underwater and etc. It is quite a recent kind of sport that was invented in 1997 by the Englishman Phil Saw.
Being a climber himself and the worker of knitwear factory, he decided to combine his work and hobby into a new kind of sport. Very quickly this sport became popular worldwide, and there was even the World Championship on extreme ironing held in Germany.
Cheese Rolling
Every spring villagers of the English village Gloucestershire organize an interesting competition on cheese rolling: participants must roll a large wheel of cheese downhill and run after it.
The winner will be a participant, who reaches the bottom of the hill. Though this competition seems to be rather funny than dangerous, due to the steepness of hills injuries among participants are quite common.
Quidditch
Probably everyone remembers Quidditch from the Harry Potter’s series as a combination of athleticism, a bit of violence and magic of course. If you think that it exists only in the Harry Potter’s books and movies than you are wrong because there is an alternative to it in real life.
Created by fans of Harry Potter Quidditch does not have all the magic of the real version, but it definitely does not lack for passion, adrenaline, and fun.
It was created several years ago at Middlebury College in the United States, and even the whole International Quidditch Association was founded that consists nowadays thousands of members. The scoring system and the rules of a real-life Quidditch are the same with the only one essential difference: there is no flying.
Bossaball
It is new kind of sport that is quickly gaining its popularity now. In 2010 the Times even called Bossaball the most captivating new sports existing today. It was developed in Spain in 2004 by Filip Eyckmans.
Bossball combines elements of several others sports at the same time, including volleyball, football, capoeira, and gymnastics. It is played by two teams with 3-5 players in each of them on an inflatable field that has a trampoline on each side of the net.
Watch Bossaball video
The Top Ten Weird Sports
- Buzkashi
- Jai-Alai
- Kabaddi
- Eukonkanto – Wife Carrying
- Chess boxing
- Underwater hockey
- Extreme ironing
- Cheese Rolling
- Quidditch
- Bossaball
Find out other amazing sports you didn’t know even existed and read other fascinating stories about wonders of the world.
What do you think about these weird sports? Have you tried any of these? Are you interested in to try any of these? Which is your favorite of these unusual sports? Please leave your comments below!
