I’m presuming that if you’re reading this, you are a sports fan! I’m also guessing that as a sports fan, you know your country’s official „national sport”, or do you? Below you will find a list of sports – let’s see if you can match the sport to a country!

Well, I wanted to help you by giving you some rules! The trouble is there aren’t any. Some countries share a national sport, some don’t have an official sport registered, and some even have more than one sport… greedy, I know. So before reading the whole post, have a go and see how many you know. It’s just for fun, and we are not giving away prizes!

So, here are the sports:
1. Archery
2. Badminton
3. Basketball
4. Baseball
5. Bandy
6. Capoeira
7. Cross-Country Skiing
8. Cricket
9. Charreria
10. Golf
11. Ice Hockey
12. Kabaddi
13. Lacosse
14. Pato
15. Rodeo
16. Rugby Union
17. Soccer
18. Sumo
19. Table Tennis
20. Taekwondo
21. Water polo
22. Wrestling

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I can hear you thinking, this is tougher than I thought it would be! Below you will find the list of sports paired with their county. How many do you get correct? And like me, did you have to look a few of the sports up, because, like me, you’ve never heard of them? 🙂 So here we go in alphabetical order!

• Argentina’s national sport is pato. For those of us that don’t know, it’s a mix of polo and, basketball played on horseback!
• Australia as I’m sure you know is a very competitive nation. And I guess that’s why they have two national sports! The first is cricket and, I’m told, they are very good. The second, you could say, is tailor-made for them, Australian Rules Football. Played 18 a side on a cricket pitch. A sport that I don’t think, has been very successfully exported!
• Bangladesh, here they love cricket and football (soccer). So it may surprise you to know that kabaddi is their national sport. I’m not going to lie, I had to look this one up as well! It’s a tough game to describe, but here it goes. A contact sport, where 2 teams of 7 try to get one of their players into their opponents half. Once there, they proceed to 'tag out’ the defence before returning to their own half, without being tackled. Points are scored for each tag!

• Bhutan, and a sport that’s a little bit easier to describe 🙂 It’s archery! And has been their national sport since 1971.
• Brazil, come on! We all thought it must be football (soccer). But no! It’s capoeira, a martial art that combines dance and music.
• Bulgaria, did you know it was weightlifting? If yes, give yourself a pat on the back! They just happen to be one of the most successful countries of all time. They hold countless world records from major competitions, including the Olympics.
• Canada has two national sports registered – and why not?! One for summer, lacrosse and, one for winter, ice hockey.
• China is a country that has not got an official national sport registered, but by popularity, it lists table tennis.
• The Czech Republic is another country that lists ice hockey as its national sport.
• England’s national sport is cricket. What else could it be?
• France is one of many countries that lists football (soccer) as its national sport. Unlike many other countries, they have been very successful in recent years. So a very wise choice indeed.
• Hungary, how many of you knew it’s water polo?!

• Indonesia’s national sport is badminton. They have won gold medals at almost every summer Olympics since the sport was first introduced in 1992.
• Lithuania loves basketball, and I guess that’s why it’s their national sport.
• Iran, famous for its wrestling! I did not know that, but it is their national sport.
• Japan love sport and have registered sumo as their national pastime. A traditional sport, that goes way back in their history.
• Mexico has another unusual sport registered. It’s called charreria, and it’s best described, as a kind of rodeo that evolved from the skills needed to farm animals down on the ranch.

• New Zealand is not the only country to have rugby union as their national sport. But they are one of the most successful teams of all times.
• Norway has gone for a winter sport. And it’s cross-country skiing! They sure seem to have the weather for it.
• Pakistan has opted for hockey, but not the ice version. It’s field hockey for them – and they are pretty good at it.
• Russia and bandy! For those that don’t know, bandy is a hockey based sport.

• Scotland is said to be the home of golf. So a fitting national sport for them.
• South Korea is another country that has a martial art listed as its national sport. It is, of course, taekwondo.
• USA. Last on this alphabetical list is one of the biggest sporting nations in the world, of course, we are talking about the USA. I was pretty sure that American football would be their choice, but no, it’s baseball.

So there you have it, a list of 24 counties and their national sports. Of course, there many more counties that we haven’t mentioned. If we have left off yours, we apologise. Maybe, just maybe, it will feature next time!

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