ACROBATICS

Although it only became a competitive sport, acrobatics has long been an important component of modern artistic sports, such as gymnastics, diving and figure skating. From the Greek for “Walking on Tiptoe”, it includes a variety of maneuvers often with such apparatus as tight-ropes, trapezes, unicycles, falls, barrels and poles.

AEROBICS

The word Aerobics was coined by Dr. Kenneth H Copper, a USA physician, to denote a system of exercise to help prevent coronary artery disease. In 1983, Howard and Karen Schwartz organised Sports fitness International (SFI) to oversee a new competitive sport they had developed, known as Sport Aerobics.
The first world championships were held in 1990 at San Diego with athletes from 15 countries competing.

ARCHERY

Archery is one of the most ancient of sports. During the paleolithic era (35,000 to 8,000 B.C.), the use of bow and arrow for hunting probably developed independently in many places throughout the world.
The modern sport of target archery originated in England during the 14th century, when the longbow became the English army’s most important weapon, first at the Battle of Crecy (1346) and later at Politiers and Agincourt. From 1330 to 1414, English kings banned all other sports because they diverted time from archery and a royal decree of 1363 required all Englishmen to practice archery on Sunday and holidays. The International Archery Federation was established in 1931 to hold international archery competitions. In 1969, the Federation included field archery to the set of archery events in the world championship. Rules specified by the federation apply for all international tournaments. Archery is a medal sports in Summer Olympics.

AQUATICS

Diving, Springboard and Platform : Diving, springboard and platform, sport of entering the water from a raised position, often while executing tumbles, twists, and other acrobatic maneuvers. In most dives the upper part of the body enters the water first, and the arms are extended straight over the head. The earliest recorded major diving competition took palce in 1871 off the London Bridge. Since then diving has become part of most aquatic meets and is a US intercollegiate event. Men’s diving became part of the Olympic games in 1904, when it was called fancy diving. Women’s diving joined the program in 1912; synchronized diving became a medal event in 2000.
Swimming : The English are considered the first modern society to develop swimming as a sport. By 1837, regular swimming competitions were being held in London’s six artificial pools, organised by the National Society in England. As the sport grew in popularity, many more pools were built, and when a new governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain, was organized in 1880, it numbers 300 member clubs.
In 1896, swimming became in Olympic sport for men with the 100 metres and 1500 metre free style competitions held in past to open water. Soon after, as swimming gained popularity, more freestyle event were added, followed by backstroke, breakstroke, butterfly and finally, the individual medley.

BADMINTON

The game is said to have been played in China in the 2nd millennium BC. However, the origin of modern badminton is attributed to Britain and its development took place in India. It was evolved in 1870 by some British officers serving in India and it was then called ‘Poona Game’ because of its popularity in Pune at that time. The first modern rules were drawn up in India (Pune) in 1876. The International Badminton Federation (IBF) was formed in 1934 when the rules of the game were standardised. Badminton was introduced in the Asian Games in 1962 at Jakarta (Indonesia) and made its debut in the Olympic Games at Barcelona in 1992. The First World cup (Alba world cup) was won by Prakash Padukone in 1981 and the first Asian Championship was won by Dinesh Khanna in 1965 (for men) and Sarojini Apte and Meena Shah (for women).
Number of Players : The game is played in three ways:

• Singles (one player on each side)
• Doubles (two players on each side)
• Mixed Doubles (one male and one female player on each side)

BASKETBALL

The Game was first played in the 10th century BC in Mexico. However, the credit of its invention is attributed to James Naismith of America (1891). Basket Ball was first played in India in 1930. It was introduced in the Berlin Olympics in 1936 for men and for women at the Montreal Games (1976) Basket ball has been one of the sports, at the Asian Games, right from its inception (1951).
Number of Players : Two teams of five (women’s team has 6) players each. Teams however, have 12 players but at a time not more than five play the game.

ASEBALL

Baseball developed from variations of the English game of rounders, from related regional and local games, and from children’s games like “one old cat,” all of which had evolved through centuries. The traditional story that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839 in Cooperstown, N.Y. has been discredited. Rather, in the 1840s Alexander Cartwright of the New York Knickerbocker Club standardized many of the features and field dimensions still in use today. It is widely thought than the first game of modern baseball was played by the knickerbockers in the fall of 1845 in a park called Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N.J. Sportswriter. Henry Chadwick wrote (1858) the first rule book, and though the rules continue to change by small degrees, by 1900 the game was essentially that of today.

BILLIARDS

Anyone of a number of games played with a tampered, leathertipped stick called a cue and various numbers of balls on a rectangular, cloth-covered slate table with raised and cushioned edges. Games similar to billiards were popular in England and France in the 16th centuary, and evidence even suggests that a billiards like game was played in the 14th centuary. The country of origin is disputed–England, France, Italy, Spain and China have been credited by various historians with its invention. The game in its present form was probably fully developed by 1800. There are three main types of billiards: carom billiards, pocket billiards (also known as pool), and snooker. Carom billiards is played with three balls, a cue ball and two object balls, on a pocketless table; scoring is by caroms only, i.e., by causing the cue ball to strike the object balls in specified ways. Pocket billiards is played with 15 object balls and a cue ball on a table with six pockets; the essential object of the game is to cause the object balls to enter the pockets. Snooker is similar to pocket billiards, except that it uses 21 object balls and smaller pockets.

BOXING

When boxing was first introduced at the Ancient Olympic Games, where Greek fighters wrapped leather strips around their hands and a match would not end until one competitor was beaten unconscious or raised his hand in surrender. The thought of going past 12 rounds is foreign to today’s boxing world, but in ancient times, 36 minutes would not even constitute a warm-up.
The Playing Ring and Equipment : The ring is a square platform measuring 4.9 to 7.3 metres in each side, 3.4 ft above the ground, fastened by at least 3,4 ropes attached to the poles of each corner. The padded gloves worn by boxers weighs upto and including 67 kg–9 ounces or 227 gm and over 67 kg–10 ounces or 284 gm. Gumshields protect the teeth and a Jockstrap may also be worn.

CRICKET

History : The game was first played in Guildford Surrey in 1550. It was brought to India by British merchants and officers. The game was played in India for the first time in 1721 by English merchants at Cambay. The first official test match between England and Australia was played in 1932. India also played its first Test Match in 1932.
Now there are three types of cricket matches recognised internationally, viz.

• First Class Cricket (duration 3–5 days)
• One Day Internationals
• Test Cricket (duration 5 days)
• T-20 Cricket (20 overs match)
• Number of Players : Two teams of 11 players each.

KHO KHO :

Kho-Kho is an Indian game. It is popular in the whole of India. It originated at Pune Gymkana in the State of Maharashtra. Its team in India is called Kho-Kho Federation of India (KKFI).
Kho-Kho is a game played in 2 innings by 12 nominated players out of 15, on each side. Initially 9 players start the game and 3 are kept reserve. One team becomes the chasers and the other the defenders or runners. In the game, the chaser pursues the runners: tags and touches them and makes them out. Each team has to chase and defend for 9 minutes twice in a match.

GOLF

It is a game of hitting a small hard ball with specially made clubs over an outdoor course sometimes (particularly if it is near the coast) called a links. The object is to deposit the ball in a specified number of cups, or holes, using as few strokes as possible. Although golf’s place of origin is uncertain, Scotland has the strongest claim. As early as 1457, it was banned there as a threat to archery practice, which was considered vital to national defense. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland (founded 1754), is the international shrine of golf, and the club’s basic rules are the worldwide standards.

HANDBALL

Handball is one of the world’s fastest games. It is played between two teams in which a ball is hit with the hand in a walled court. A team moves the ball by dribbling, passing or bouncing it as they run. Players may stop, catch, throw, bounce or strike the ball with any part of the body above the knees. Each team tries to score goals by directing the ball past the opposition’s goalkeeper into the net.

SOCCER

One of the earliest forms of Soccer in which players kicked a ball on a small field has been traced as far back as 1004 B.C. in Japan. The Munich Ethological Museum in Germany has a Chinese text from approximately 50 B.C. that mentions games very similar to soccer that were played between teams from China and Japan. The Chinese kicked a leather ball (filled) with
hari and it is known for sure that a soccer game was played in 611 A.D. in the ancient Japanese capital, Kyoto.
A historical record of the development of soccer in England shows that Eton college had the earliest known rules of the game in 1815, perhaps implying that until then, chaos was preferred over order. But order gradually came to the game, and standardized rules known as the Cambridge rules were adopted by England’s major colleges.

HOCKEY

A game resembling hockey was first played in ancient Egypt around 2050 BC. The modern game was evolved in the British isles. The first hockey club was the Blackheath and Abbey Hockey Club established in 1861. The English Hockey Association was formed at Cannon Street Hotel, London in 1875.
Number of Players : Two teams of 11 players each.

SQUASH

Squash is a racket sport that is played on an enclosed four-walled court. The ball can be bounced off any wall within the marked lines; every shot must come off the front wall before hitting the ground. It is normally played by two players, but doubles squash is also a recognised sport. The object of the game is to win points by ensuring that your opponent is unable to return your shot before the ball bounces twice.
Squash, or ‘Squash Rackets’ as it was known in its early days, was invented at Harrow School, England, around 1830 and grew gradually until the 1960s, when it suddenly exploded in popularity worldwide.
Numbers of Players : Squash is played by two players on an enclosed court with a floor area of 9.75 metres by 6.4 metres. The players strike the ball alternatively on to the front wall, which is 4.75 metres high and has an ‘out of bounds’ board measuring 480 mm across the bottom.

TABLE TENNIS

Played for the first time in 1880 in London. The English Table Tennis Association was formed in 1922. In India, table tennis dates back to 1911 and the Table Tennis Association of India (TTAI) was formed only in 1938. Although World Championships were held earlier, Table Tennis was introduced in the Olympic in 1988. The game was introduced in the Asian Games in 1958. So far India is the only country to have hosted the World Championship three times 1952, 1984–85 and 1986–87.
Number of Players : One player on each side in Single, Two players on each side in Doubles.

TENNIS

Originated in France sometime in 1050. Major Walter Wingfield named it Lawn Tennis in 1870. The first Tennis Club called Lamington Club was established in 1872.
Tennis was one of the disciplines in the inaugural Olympics in Athens in 1896 and it remained so till 1924. It was brought back to the Olympics in 1988 at Seoul. It was introduced in the Asian Games in 1958 at Tokyo.
Number of Players : Singles or doubles, with one or two players respectively on each side.

VOLLEYBALL

The game was invented by William G. Morgan of Massachusett (USA) in 1895 as an alternative to Basketball. The International Volleyball Association (IVA) was formed in Paris in April 1947. The World Championship for men began in 1949 and for women in 1952.
The first World Championship were held in 1949 in Prague. Volleyball made its entry into Olympics in 1964 at Tokyo and into the Asian Games in 1958 (Tokyo).
Number of players : Two teams of six players each.

Beach Volleyball : Because of the many difficulties of playing outdoors, such as the sand, the sun and the wind, beach volleyball players must have outstanding ball skills and court speed.

• Regular Volleyball : Matches are played best of five sets. The first four sets are played to 25 points, with the final set begin played to 15 ponts.

WATER POLO

It is thought that British resort owners invented this rather strange pastime during the mid-1899, in an attempt-however to attract guests. The first matches were played on nearby lakes and rivers, and the game’s passing similarity to horseback polo earned it the name “water polo”.
After the elimination of the paddles and barrels, the game was adapted to swimming pools in 1870 by the London Swimming Club, who hosted the first official game at the Crystal Palace Plunge in London. Matches resembled rugby on water, and were based more on brute strength than athletic skill. Underwater wrestling bouts would leave some players barely conscious when they rose to the surface.
A common trick players used was to place the small ball in their swimming trunks and swim underwater towards the goal, where they would score by removing the ball and slamming it onto the pool deck. Planning Area and Equipment : Men’s game area in water 20 m to 30 m long and 8 to 20 m wide and women’s game area not exceeding 25 m by 17 m. the round water proof ball has a circumference of 0.68 to 0.71m and weights 400gm to 450 gm. Goals are 3 metre apart and generally 0.9 m above water level.
Number of Players : 6 players at anyone time in the playing area excluding the goalie.

WEIGHTLIFTING

In weightlifting, the competitors aim to lift a weighted bar above the head and hold it under control until signalled by the referee to replaced it on the platform. Weightilifting is spilit into two separate lifts–the snatch, and the clean and jerk. Competitors get a maximum of three attempts at each lift.
As a basic athletic activity and a natural means to measure strength and power, the lifting of weights was present in both the ancient Egyptian and Greek societies.
Lifters perform two types of lifts–the snatch and the clean and jerk. In the snatch, they lift the bar to arm’s length above their head in one movement. In the clean and jerk, they lift the bar to their shoulders, stand up straight, then jerk the bar to arm’s length above their head.

WRESTLING

Wrestling is an individual combat sport fought between two wrestlers on a mat. They can use different styles and techniques in a bid to throw their opponent to the ground and pin him down to register a fall. The wrestler who achieves the fall is declared the winner of the bout.
With the possible exception of track and field (athletics), wrestling is the most ancient sport known to have been continuously practised competitively. Wrestling was introduced into the ancient Olympics in 708 BC. Well before the inaugural modern Olympic Games of 1896, wrestling was as much a part of Greece’s cultural heritage as hockey has been to Canadians. Many experts regard wrestling as the world’s oldest competitive sport, and indeed, wall paintings in Egypt depicting grapplers date back 5,000 years.
But the original Greek Olympics but wrestling on the map in the ancient world, making its Olympic debut in the Games of 708 BC. It was apprarently a much more violent, punishing sport in those early days, when it had closer ties to military training. Wrestling spread through the Roman World, as well as other early civilisations in India, China, Japan and throughout the Middle East.
Wrestling died out with the Olympic Games in the Dark Ages, but it was natural that when organisers of the 1896 Olympics searched for sports with roots in antiquity, they looked to wrestling. It was the showpiece event of those Olympics, much as the 100–metre final is in the present day Games.

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