Discussion Misc. Sports and Events Discussion

Ironhawk

Ironhawk

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#1
Want to talk about a particular sporting event, but there's no topic for it? This is the place for it.

I enjoy most sports, and find some that are not exactly main stream just as exciting as the ones we already have topics for. It's why I really enjoy the Olympics, as a good chance to see some less popular sports televised once every few years. Although these sports are welcome (and encouraged) to be discussed in this topic, I'll mainly be highlighting some even more random sports and events with a lot of my posts here, but this topic is intended for anyone to post about any event which doesn't already have a dedicated topic.

I will say in advance some things I post about are almost certainly not going to be traditional sports, or arguably sports at all. Generally there will be some form of competition involved though, which I consider close enough to count.

========

2024 FAI World Drone Racing Championship

Starts tomorrow (31 Oct), and runs until the 3rd of November. Held in Hangzhou, China.

https://www.fai.org/wdrc

This sounds a bit boring, and nerdy, and it likely is, but it also requires a lot of skill. You can see highlights of the 2023 event below to get an idea of what is involved.

View: https://youtu.be/T6ULdKtgQXM?si=icKRYdK5PnKTLN17


Not sure that drone soccer as shown briefly in that video will take off, but that has given me another thing to look out for. Any "sport" where you can be completely unfit and still be competitive gives me hope of one day finding something I can potentially compete at a high level in. I definitely don't have the reflexes needed for this one though!
 
Ironhawk

Ironhawk

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#3
For those in Melbourne, tickets go on sale tomorrow for the first ever Pro Kabaddi League match to be held in Australia. It will be held on December 28, which ties in with Day 3 of the Boxing Day test between Australia and India. Kabaddi is the second most popular sport in India, and is very popular across the whole subcontinent.

What is Kabaddi? From Wikipedia: The objective of the game is for a single player on offense, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but return to the game after each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.

The PKL is the major league in the sport, so you'll get a chance to see some of the best teams in the world play. With a large Indian population in Melbourne and the timing of the match, there should be a good atmosphere, and it's not something you'll get a chance to see very often.

Here are some highlights from a kabaddi match for those who may have never seen it played before:

View: https://youtu.be/8rFpxugD2Y0
 
Ironhawk

Ironhawk

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Ironhawk said:
For those in Melbourne, tickets go on sale tomorrow for the first ever Pro Kabaddi League match to be held in Australia. It will be held on December 28, which ties in with Day 3 of the Boxing Day test between Australia and India. Kabaddi is the second most popular sport in India, and is very popular across the whole subcontinent.

What is Kabaddi? From Wikipedia: The objective of the game is for a single player on offense, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but return to the game after each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.

The PKL is the major league in the sport, so you'll get a chance to see some of the best teams in the world play. With a large Indian population in Melbourne and the timing of the match, there should be a good atmosphere, and it's not something you'll get a chance to see very often.

Here are some highlights from a kabaddi match for those who may have never seen it played before:

View: https://youtu.be/8rFpxugD2Y0
Click to expand...
If anyone was actually interested in attending the Kabaddi, you can get a discount with the code below. Seems good value.

20241202_155446.jpg

This is pretty much like the IPL for Kabaddi, similar format and it's nearly as popular in India (viewership is around 80% of the IPL numbers, according to Wikipedia anyway, and I am sure you know how crazy Indians are for cricket). If you do go, besides the main game, as a bonus you will get to see some ex footballers get humiliated in a sport they have never played before by some pro players who won't even need to try.
 
Russty_

Russty_

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#5
Ironhawk said:
For those in Melbourne, tickets go on sale tomorrow for the first ever Pro Kabaddi League match to be held in Australia. It will be held on December 28, which ties in with Day 3 of the Boxing Day test between Australia and India. Kabaddi is the second most popular sport in India, and is very popular across the whole subcontinent.

What is Kabaddi? From Wikipedia: The objective of the game is for a single player on offense, referred to as a "raider", to run into the opposing team's half of the court, touch out as many of their players as possible, and return to their own half of the court, all without being tackled by the defenders in 30 seconds. Points are scored for each player tagged by the raider, while the opposing team earns a point for stopping the raider. Players are taken out of the game if they are touched or tackled, but return to the game after each point scored by their team from a tag or tackle.

The PKL is the major league in the sport, so you'll get a chance to see some of the best teams in the world play. With a large Indian population in Melbourne and the timing of the match, there should be a good atmosphere, and it's not something you'll get a chance to see very often.

Here are some highlights from a kabaddi match for those who may have never seen it played before:

View: https://youtu.be/8rFpxugD2Y0
Click to expand...
Looks like fun, kinda like Tag, Chasey and Rugby rolled into one.
 
toxic

toxic

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#6
Anyone interested in this mornings heavyweight boxing?
Fury v Usyk

There are a few streams around

PM me if you need
 
Ironhawk

Ironhawk

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I know it's not a popular sport here, but it's tennis season, with the Australian Open starting next week. I've been watching a few matches lately, and it's really good to see that we have some Aussie players in good form in the lead up events. Emerson Jones is a 16 year old that just won easily against a top 40 player in Adelaide, after a really good junior career (2 Grand Slam finals and was ranked #1 junior) - she'll be one in particular to watch in the next few years.

I still think most of the Aussies will bow out early next week, as they usually do, but hoping at least one of them can go on a bit of a run.
 
Ironhawk

Ironhawk

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#9
Almost forgot this one.

The Handball World Championship starts in a few hours time, being held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway.

You would think with 79 countries entering qualifying that Australia may have actually entered a team. Nope. Even the Kiwis did (finishing 2nd last in the Asian qualifying). One sport we are obviously completely rubbish at. I find it a bit surprising, when you consider we win medals in the winter Olympics despite minimal snow/ice here, that we can't even find enough people willing to have a go at this sport.

You can nearly guarantee a European team will win overall, but I'll be cheering for a very unlikely upset. Of the 28 previous events, all 28 have been won by European teams, 27 times they have been runner up (Qatar the exception, when the tournament was held in Qatar in 2015).

If you've never seen the sport at the Olympics or elsewhere, the video below has highlights of the 2023 final won by Denmark (not the best video, but should give some idea).

View: https://youtu.be/8IT1neV3aw4
 
Russty_

Russty_

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#10
Ironhawk said:
Almost forgot this one.

The Handball World Championship starts in a few hours time, being held in Croatia, Denmark and Norway.

You would think with 79 countries entering qualifying that Australia may have actually entered a team. Nope. Even the Kiwis did (finishing 2nd last in the Asian qualifying). One sport we are obviously completely rubbish at. I find it a bit surprising, when you consider we win medals in the winter Olympics despite minimal snow/ice here, that we can't even find enough people willing to have a go at this sport.

You can nearly guarantee a European team will win overall, but I'll be cheering for a very unlikely upset. Of the 28 previous events, all 28 have been won by European teams, 27 times they have been runner up (Qatar the exception, when the tournament was held in Qatar in 2015).

If you've never seen the sport at the Olympics or elsewhere, the video below has highlights of the 2023 final won by Denmark (not the best video, but should give some idea).

View: https://youtu.be/8IT1neV3aw4
Click to expand...
Doesn't really look that hard either, throw ball, catch ball, throw ball into goal, wouldn't want to be a goalie though, they don't have very much success stopping anything :LOL:
 
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