Sports
See also: Football in MauritiusThe most popular sport in Mauritius is football and the national team is the Club M. However, Mauritius' national sports teams has had little success internationally because of its small population, lack of funding and a local culture that values academic achievement over other activities. Water sports are popular, including swimming, sailing, scuba diving and water skiing. Other popular sports in Mauritius include cyling, table tennis, badminton, volleyball, basketball, handball, boxing, pétanque, judo, karate, taekwondo, weightlifting, bodybuilding and athletics.
However Mauritius is quite competitive at regional level in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius collected some golds, silver and bronze medals in the Indian Ocean Island Games. The second (1985) and fifth editions (2003) were hosted by Mauritius. Mauritius won its first Olympic medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when boxer Bruno Julie won the bronze medal.
The national sport, however, remains horseracing, which is part and parcel of the island's cultural heritage. Horseracing in Mauritius dates to 1812, when the Champ de Mars Racecourse was inaugurated, making it the oldest racecourse in the Southern Hemisphere. Eight races are held every Saturday afternoon from March to December at the Champ de Mars Racecourse in Port Louis.
Read more about this topic: Government Of Mauritius, Culture
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)
“I looked so much like a guy you couldn’t tell if I was a boy or a girl. I had no hair, I wore guys’ clothes, I walked like a guy ... [ellipsis in source] I didn’t do anything right except sports. I was a social dropout, but sports was a way I could be acceptable to other kids and to my family.”
—Karen Logan (b. 1949)
“Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn,
Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant’s hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green;
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain;”
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730?–1774)