Other Sports
Basketball has existed in Afghanistan since at least the 1970s, and is slowly becoming popular again. It is played by both Afghan men and women. The Afghanistan national basketball team won a gold medal in the 2010 South Asian Games.
Other sports in which Afghanistan competes include volleyball, golf, track and field, team handball, boxing, taekwondo, weighlifting, bodybuilding, ice skating, bowling, snooker, and chess. Saleh Mohammad is a professional Afghan snooker player, who previously represented Pakistan in international competitions but is now representing Afghanistan.
Buzkashi is a traditional sport that was brought to the region by the Mongols in the 13th century. It is mostly played by people in northern Afghanistan and in Central Asia, as well as in northwestern parts of neighboring Pakistan.
The Afghanistan Rugby Federation (ARF) was formed in 2011, and is registered with the National Olympic Committee and approved by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan also became a member of the Federation of International Bandy in 2012.
Read more about this topic: Sport In Afghanistan
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“Guys do not have a genetic blueprint that allows them to understand or love sports.”
—Lesley Visser, U.S. sports reporter and announcer. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 82 (June 17, 1991)
“There be some sports are painful, and their labor
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters
Point to rich ends.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)