Chess boxing, eukokanto, street luge, korfbal … Have you heard of these sports?

Try typing “sport” on Google. Instantly, you will have almost two billion results. Yes, you are reading well: billions, with ‘b’. In the first positions, how could it be otherwise, are in addition to the best known and best positioned sports facilities, the most mediated and practiced disciplines. Soccer, basketball, tennis, athletics, rugby, Formula 1, golf, appear in the top positions with hardly any rivals.

Today there are a large number of disciplines that, despite not being on top of international sport and not having copious hobbies, are practiced in different parts of the world and, in some cases, with great success.

It is the case of minority sports that respond to such unpronounceable names as eukokanto, kabaddi, street luge, extreme ironing or chess boxing. If you want to discover them and, incidentally, climb a step in sports culture, check out the list of rarer sports we have prepared for the occasion. Who knows if, in addition to discovering who came up with it, how is the field where it is practiced or what its game rules consist of, in the end you end up getting hooked.

Street luge

The asphalt sled or street luge is a variant of the Olympic winter Luge. In this case, the sleds are replaced by a scooter and snow, by asphalt. He was born in southern California, in the heat of other widely practiced disciplines, such as skateboarding or surfing.
In 1975 street luge became an official practice, although it was not until the 1990s when it had its own rules and even federation. It is considered a high-risk sport and to practice it you need an elongated board or skateboard (measures around 2.40 m.). The skateboarder lies on his back and can reach speeds of over 100 km / h. The world record is held by Roger Hickey, who with 58 years managed to reach 161.4 km / h.

Kabaddi

Of Hindu origin, it has more than 4,000 years old, hence it is considered one of the oldest known sports. It is currently very popular in Southeast Asia. In fact, in Bangladesh it is considered the national sport.
With very simple rules, its practice is reminiscent of traditional games like ‘pilla pilla’ or ‘catches the flag’. In order to play, there is no lack of many means. The pitch is a rectangle divided in half. In it two teams face, with seven players each. A single player must try to cross to the other side. The most important? He has to do it holding his breath and shouting “kabaddi”.

Chess boxing

This sport combines chess with boxing. Its inventor was the French filmmaker and cartoonist Enki Bilal, who drew it in the comic ‘Froid Équateur’, although it became a reality in 2003.
Each game has 11 rounds, six chess (four minutes) and five boxing (three minutes). Whoever wins the victory in any of the two disciplines wins, but must endure both in the ring and on the board. One of his curiosities is that to participate you must be under 35 years old and you must have participated as a boxer in at least 20 matches. The first World Cup was held in Amsterdam in 2004.

Eukokanto

Also known as ‘carrying the wife’ is a sport in which participants compete running with a woman. The objective is to cross an obstacle course of 253.5 meters in the shortest possible time. The minimum weight of the wife is 49 kg. If it weighs less, the rules force you to carry a backpack on your back until you complete the missing load.
There is only one category in their world championships and their roots go back to the local history of the Finnish municipality of Sonkajärvi, where there was a custom of wooing women running to their village, taking them and escaping with them in tow.
The only equipment allowed in the case of men is a belt and in the case of the participants, a helmet. It is very popular in Finland, its country of origin, but also in Sweden, Estonia and the United States. In addition, it has its own category in the Guinnes Book of records.

Cyclobol

It is, as its name implies, a mixture between cycling and football and was invented by the German-American Nicholas E. Kaufmann in 1893. Its operation is very simple: each player has to score the opposing team on a special bicycle. Fixed pinion with a particular geometry.
The field, whose measurements are 14×11 meters, is of hard ground similar to those of futsal. The ball, which weighs between 500 and 600 grams and measures between 17 and 18 centimeters in diameter, can only be thrown with the front wheel of the bicycle. Despite its uniqueness, it is widespread in Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Austria or Belgium and since 1929 has been holding world championships.

Sepak Takraw

It is another of the oldest, although its name does not sound familiar. Also known as kick volleyball, its origin dates back to the time of the Sultanate of Malacca, in the 16th century, in Southeast Asia. Its operation is similar to that of volleyball, although in this one a rattan ball is used, a kind of cane, which can only be touched with the head and feet. At present, it is played with one with a better boat and that causes fewer injuries than the old one.
It is widespread in Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Burma, Vietnam or Indonesia, where it adopts different names. At present, it is governed internationally by the International Federation of Sepak Takraw (ISTAF) and its World Cup is celebrated every damage in Thailand. It aspires to be an Olympic sport, although since the Beijing Asian Games in 1990 it has its own category.

Extreme ironing

Also known as extreme ironing is a discipline that was born in Leicester, England, in 1997, in which its participants take ironing boards to remote locations. Once there, they place the household utensil and are dedicated to iron clothes.
Its creator was Phil Shaw, an employee of a knitwear factory. One day when he had several pending tasks, including ironing his shirts, he decided to do it while climbing, one of his favorite sports. It was thus that he combined both activities giving rise to a new extreme sport that has an international group inspiring, in passing, other activities such as that of the extreme Cello.

Korfbal

With certain similarities with basketball, korfbal or also known as balonkorf is a sport that is played in mixed teams consisting of eight players, four men and four women. Born in the early twentieth century, its operation is to make a ball in a special wicker or plastic basket that is attached to a tall stick.
The court is divided into two halves called zones. During the game, which lasts an hour, two men and two women from each team are in one area and the others in the other. As a peculiarity, during the game you cannot change the zone. This practice has an international federation that organizes a world cup every four years since 1978.

Although these are just some of the most unknown and curious, in the world there are endless sports full of deeds and curiosities to discover. They say that there is a sport for every type of person.