Sport is any competitive physical activity or game. It aims to use and improve physical ability through participation. There are hundreds of sports involving anywhere from two to hundreds of participants competing individually or in teams. Sports are generally recognized as physical activities governed by rules to ensure fair competition. Winning is determined by physical events like scoring goals or crossing a finish line first, or by judges' scoring of elements like technical performance. Organized sports keep records of performances that may be widely reported. Sport is also a major source of entertainment for spectators. The global sporting industry was worth up to $620 billion as of 2013 according to estimates.

1. Sport

2. Sport (or sports) is all forms of usually competitive physical
activity which,through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain
or improve physical ability and skills while providing entertainment to
participants, and in some cases, spectators.Hundreds of sports exist, from
those requiring only two participants, through to those with hundreds of
simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals.
Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in
physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions
such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and
other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding
activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a
number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind
sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises
bothchess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international
sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports,although
limits the amount of mind games which can be admitted as sports.

3. Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which
serve to ensure fair competition, and allow consistent adjudication
of the winner. Winning can be determined by physical events such
as scoring goals or crossing a line first, or by the determination of
judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance,
including objective or subjective measures such as technical
performance or artistic impression.
In organised sport, records of performance are often kept, and for
popular sports, this information may be widely announced or
reported in sport news. In addition, sport is a major source of
entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sports drawing
large crowds to venues, and reaching wider audiences
through sports broadcasting.
According to A.T. Kearney, a consultancy, the global sporting
industry is worth up to $620 billion as of 2013.

4. Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on a field at
the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. Each team takes it in turn
to bat, attempting to score runs, while the other team fields. Each turn is known as
an innings.
The bowler delivers the ball to the batsman who attempts to hit the ball with
his bat far enough for him to run to the other end of the pitch and score a run. Each
batsman continues batting until he is out. The batting team continues batting until
ten batsmen are out, at which point the teams switch roles and the fielding team
comes in to bat.
In professional cricket the length of a game ranges from 20 overs of six bowling
deliveries per side to Test cricket played over five days. The Laws of Cricket are
maintained by theInternational Cricket Council (ICC) and the Marylebone Cricket
Club (MCC) with additional Standard Playing Conditions for Test matches and One Day
Internationals.
Cricket was first played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the
18th century, it had developed into the national sport of England. The expansion of
the British Empire led to cricket being played overseas and by the mid-19th century
the first international matches were being held. The ICC, the game's governing body,
has 10 full members.[2] The game is most popular in Australasia, England, the Indian
subcontinent, the West Indies and Southern Africa.

6. Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying
degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these
sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football"
or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football
is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including
association football, as well as American football, Australian rules
football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union, and other
related games. These variations of football are known as football codes.
Various forms of football can be identified in history, often as
popular peasant games. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back
to the codification of these games at English public schools in the eighteenth and
nineteenth century.The influence and power of the British Empire allowed these
rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside of the directly
controlled Empire, though by the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional
codes were already developing: Gaelic Football, for example, deliberately
incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain
their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming
the first of many professional football competitions. During the twentieth
century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become among the most
popular team sports in the world.

8. Hockey is a family of sports in which two
teams play against each other by trying
to maneuver a ball or a puck into the
opponent's goal using a hockey stick. In
many areas, one sport (typically field
hockey or ice hockey) is generally
referred to simply as hockey.

10. Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine
players who take turns batting and fielding.
The offense attempts to score more runs than its opponents by hitting
a ball thrown by the pitcher with a bat and moving counter-clockwise
around a series of four bases: first, second, third and home plate. A run is
scored when the runner advances around the bases and returns to home
plate.
Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of
the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in
any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the
bases and later advance on a teammate's hit or other means. The teams
switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records
three outs. One turn at bat for both teams, beginning with the visiting
team, constitutes an inning, and nine innings a game. The team with the
most runs at the end of the game wins.

12. Evolving from older bat-and-ball games, an early form of
baseball was being played in England by the mid-18th
century. This game was brought by immigrants to North
America,where the modern version developed. By the late
19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the national
sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North
America and parts of Central and South America and the
Caribbean, East Asia and Europe.
In the United States and Canada, professional Major League
Baseball (MLB) teams are divided into the National
League (NL) and American League (AL), each with three
divisions: East, West, and Central. The major league
champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in
the World Series. The top level of play is similarly split in
Japan between theCentral League and Pacific Leagues and in
Cuba between the West League and East League.

13. WWE, also known as World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.,is an
American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company
that deals primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue
sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct
product sales. Founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt in 1952, it is
currently the largestprofessional wrestling promotion in the world,
reaching 6 million viewers in the U.S, and approximately another 30
million worldwide from broadcasting its shows to more than 150
countries.
Like other professional wrestling promotions, WWE's shows are not
legitimate sporting contests, instead, its programs are purely
entertainment based, featuring storyline-driven wrestling matches, with
its main purpose on being an entertainment show, versus an actual
sporting competition, the company has made this distinction very clear.
The show could be regarded as no different than a regular TV show, with
all outcomes being worked, much like a TV show's script, it is already
written. The writers of the show create a script, and it is performed in
arena's and broadcast live. WWE has already made this known to the
public first in 1981.

14. Vince McMahon is the majority owner, chairman and chief
executive officer (CEO) of the company. Together with his
wife Linda McMahon, and their children Shane
McMahon and Stephanie McMahon, the McMahons hold
approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of
the voting power in the company. The
company's headquarters are located in Stamford,
Connecticut and also has offices in New York City, Los
Angeles, London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore,
and Mumbai.[11][12] The company previously bore the
names, World Wide WrestlingFederation (WWWF), World
Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Wrestling Federation
Entertainment. Since 2002, the company has been recognized
as World Wrestling Entertainment and was simplified to WWE
in 2011.

16. Kabaddi is a wrestling sport played in South Asia.Two teams occupy
opposite halves of a small swimming pool or field and take turns
sending a "raider" into the other half, to win points by tackling
members of the opposing team; then the raider tries to return to his
own half, holding his breath and chanting the word "Kabaddi" during
the whole raid. The raider must not cross the lobby unless he touches
any of his opponents. If he does so then he will be declared as "out".
There is also a bonus line which ensure extra points for the raider if
he manages to touch it and return to his side of the field
successfully.The word Kabaddi is derived from a Tamil word (கை-பிடி)
meaning "holding of hand", which is indeed the crucial aspect of play.
It is the national game of Bangladesh, and the state game of Tamil
Nadu, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh in India.
In the international team version of kabaddi, two teams of seven
members each occupy opposite halves of a field of 10 m × 13 m in
case of men and 8 m × 12 m in case of women. Each has three
supplementary players held in reserve. The game is played with 20minute halves and a five-minute halftime break during which the
teams exchange sides.

18. Teams take turns sending a "raider" to the
opposite team's half, where the goal is to
tag or wrestle ("confine") members of the
opposite team before returning to the
home half. Tagged members are "out" and
temporarily sent off the field.
The goal of the defenders is to stop the
raider from returning to the home side
before taking a breath. If ny of the seven
players cross the lobby without touching
the raider he will be declared as "out".

19. Kho Kho is a tag sport played by teams of
twelve players who try to avoid being touched
by members of the opposing team, only 9
players of the team enter the field.It is one of
the two most popular traditional tag games of
South Asia, the other being Kabbadi.Apart from
South Asia (mainly India and Pakistan), it is
also played in South Africa.

21. Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players
(singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite
halves of a rectangular court divided by a net. Players score points by
striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net
and lands in their opponents' half of the court. Each side may only strike
the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. A rally ends once the
shuttlecock has struck the floor, or if a fault has been called by either
the umpire or service judge or, in their absence, the offending player, at
any time during the rally.
The shuttlecock (or shuttle) is a feathered (or, mainly in uncompetitive
games, plastic) projectile whose unique aerodynamic properties cause it
to fly differently than the balls used in most racquet sports; in
particular, the feathers create much higher drag, causing the shuttlecock
to decelerate more rapidly than a ball. Shuttlecocks have a much higher
top speed, when compared to other racquet sports. Because shuttlecock
flight is affected by wind, competitive badminton is played indoors.
Badminton is also played outdoors as a casual recreational activity, often
as a garden or beach game.

23. Basketball is a sport played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court.
The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter and 10
feet (3.0 m) high mounted to a backboard at each end. Basketball is one of the
world's most popular and widely viewed sports.
A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket during regular
play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or
closer to the basket than the three-point line, and three points (known commonly
as a 3 pointer or three) if the player is behind the three-point line. The team with
the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be
issued when the game ends with a draw. The ball can be advanced on the court by
bouncing it while walking or running or throwing it to a team mate. It is a violation
to move without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands
then resume dribbling.
Violations are called "fouls". A personal foul is penalized, and a free throw is usually
awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A technical
foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly
for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives
the opposing team a free throw, and the opposing team also retains possession of
the ball.

25. The sport of swimming has been recorded since prehistoric times; the earliest
recording of swimming dates back to Stone Age paintings from around 14,000 years
ago. Written references date from 2000 BC. Some of the earliest references to
swimming include the Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, Quran
and other sagas. In 1538, Nikolaus Wynmann, a German professor of languages, wrote
the first swimming book, The Swimmer or A Dialogue on the Art of Swimming Der
Schwimmer oder ein Zweigespräch über die Schwimmkunst. Competitive swimming as
we know it today started in the United States around 1800, mostly using breaststroke.
Many Americans often used swimming competitions to settle differences in the
frontier, such as property rights. In 1873, John Arthur Trudgen introduced the trudgen
to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native
Americans and African-Americans. Due to a British dislike of splashing, Trudgen
employed a scissor kick instead of the front crawl's flutter kick. In 1884, a picture
drawn by a European settler in the United States depicts an African doing the
“Australian crawl" - before the front crawl was standardized in Australia and then
perfected in the United States. Swimming was part of the first modern Olympic Games
in 1896 Summer Olympics|1896 in Athens. In 1902 Richmond Cavill introduced the
front crawl to the Western world. In 1908, the world swimming association, Fédération
Internationale de Natation (FINA), was formed. Butterfly was developed in the 1930s
and was at first a variant of breaststroke, until it was accepted as a separate style in
1952.

27. The end