8 Olympic-worth Sports You Won’t See in Tokyo
The summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo, Japan, from July 24 through to August 9, 2020. There are millions of sports in different countries across the globe, but the Summer Olympics feature games with massive global viewership, considerable fanfare, and are engaging and popular.
Although not all sports are to be featured in the Olympics, some sports are worthy of incorporation into the global games but are not there yet.
Cricket
Cricket is a sport that has billions of fans globally. With over 2.5 billion global fans, it ranks second in terms of sports fan base. Even more are the statistics in favor of cricket in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, among others.
The Indian sub-continent plays home to more than 90% of the cricket global fan base. Cricket is king in India, as it is the most staked sport in India. So many Indians stake on cricket on Indian cricket betting sites collecting deposits and paying winnings in Indian Rupees.
Unfortunately, cricket is not an Olympic sport at the moment and will not be seen in the Tokyo games. So far, cricket has been featured in the Olympics only once, in the 1900 summer games in Paris, France. Since then, cricket top shots have been at variance as regards international standards for the sport, resulting in the failure of the sport to secure a place in the summer Olympics.
Esports
Esports is an electronic sports competition that involves two professional game players competing in a video game. Just like physical sports, Esports games are fixed by the governing authorities, and the professional players go hard on each other, with millions of fans watching with keen interest. Esports has over 400 million viewers across the globe and is hugely popular in Korea, the USA, Brazil, China, among others.
Kabbadi
Kabbadi is the third most popular sport in India. Kabbadi is not an Olympic sport; Even though it has applied to be included in the games, its application has not held weight so far. Hopefully, it could be included in the games in the future. Kabbadi is quite popular in India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, with over 550 million viewers as of 2018.
Polo
Polo is a sport involving two opposing teams of four players each, whereby either team players climb on a horse to hit a little hardball into the goal of the other team. It’s a high-speed game with each team racing up the horses to score the other.
Kickball
Kickball is a sport that was fashioned from baseball, with additional features of football. In kickball, a softball is thrown to a person, and he kicks it, then joins others to run in the field. Instead of hitting the hardball with a hat as in baseball, in kickball, the ball is kicked after it is thrown at the player.
Tug of War
Tug of war is a sport whereby two teams compete against each other by dragging a rope in between them until one team pulls the rope more to their side in a stipulated distance. The distance marking the win is specified, and once pulled by any team, the judge blows the whistle in their favor.
Obstacle Course
The obstacle course is a sports competition that requires an individual or team to overcome a series of physically arduous and exhausting obstacles such as jumping, swimming, balancing objects, climbing, running, and crawling.
Bo- Taoshi
Bo-Taoshi is a game whereby a team (comprising scores of players) cluster around an erect pole with the objective of bringing down the pole to a distance of 30 degrees close to the ground. Bo- Taoshi is not an Olympic game and has never featured in it once. Originating from Japan, it is popular In Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, etc.
