7 Unusual Sports Played Across the World

May 25. 2023

By Aswirbaad Das

It is one thing to watch or play your favourite sport, and completely another to know about a sport you had no idea existed! So, let’s look at some unique and unusual sports played across the world that are bound to amuse the athlete in you.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Bossa is a Portuguese word for ‘style’, and this sport surely has some flair! This 5-a-side team sport requires one to master football, volleyball and gymnastics skills to beat the other team while bouncing on a giant inflatable trampoline! Founded by a Belgian athlete, Filip Eyckmans, in 2004, bossaball is now embraced internationally.

Bossaball

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Imagine tumbling down a 200-yard-long vertical mountain with hundreds of other participants to chase and win a Double Gloucester cheese wheel! Yes, this age-old Hill Cheese Roll race happens annually at Cooper’s Hill, near Brockworth, Gloucester. The bone-shattering perils of this event have never deterred tourists from participating in it though!

Hill Cheese Roll Race

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Here’s a sport that combines the thrill of danger and the satisfaction of well-pressed laundry! Originally conceived in 1980 but popularised in 1997 by Phil Shaw in Leicester, England, this sport demands participants to iron clothes in the most extreme of scenarios, like ironing while bungee jumping or even ironing underwater in a chilly river!

Extreme Ironing

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Also known as the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta, this water race founded by Danny Dill in 1999, is truly a treat to the eyes! It is held every October on Lake Pesaquid in Windsor, Nova Scotia and features participants racing each other on brightly coloured pumpkin kayaks, over a distance of 500–800 metres from start to finish.

Giant Pumpkin Kayaking

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Caber Toss is a highlight of the iconic Highland Games that happens every spring and summer in Scotland. It requires participants to carry and throw a huge beam of wood wearing traditional kilts! The beam should flip over and land at 12 o’clock from the thrower. Judges determine the winner based on the accuracy of the throw and the landing of the beam.

Caber Toss

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Brain and brawn clash in the epic sport of chess boxing! The idea was conceived by French comic book artist Enki Bilal in 1992 and adapted by Dutch performance artist Lepe Rubingh as a piece of performance art. The rules are simple–checkmate or knock your opponent out in 11 gruelling rounds of chess and boxing held one after the other in short spans.

Chess Boxing

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Fielijeppen, meaning ‘far leap’ in Frisian, is a sport that was born out of necessity in the 18th century. Farmers at that time developed the inventive method of leaping across waterways and canals using special pole vaults instead of going around them! This action was later adapted as a competitive sport in the whole of the Netherlands by 1771.

Fierljeppen

Image source: Wikimedia Commons