Topic 20: Sports

Vietnam’s football team received a “rock-star” welcome in Hanoi yesterday, (1)_______ losing to Uzbekistan in the 2018 U23 Asian Championship Final. Thousands of supporters flocked to the streets from Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi’s city center to greet the team bus, (2)________the Vietnamese PM’s reception for the team by five hours. A home-coming celebration was also held at My Dinh National Stadium, where all 40,000 seats were filled with thousands more waiting outside to see the players. Their (3)______ at the U23 Asian Cup made the players “overnight celebrities in the football-crazy nation”, AFP wrote. Various Korean outlets, including Korea Times, Sportal Korea and Hani, have also expressed amazement at the way football fans have celebrated their national team’s achievement, and at the same time, hailed the team’s performance at the tournament (4)_____ “heroic” and “like a fairy tale”.

According to Sportal Korea, the team made an “impressive achievement” at the Asian tournament. “The red flags were being waved everywhere on the streets, and the cheering went on until late,” Hani wrote. The Korea Times also added that Vietnam’s success at the Asian Cup had brought Vietnamese football and Korean football “closer”. More importantly, it is the success (5)_____unites the country on so many levels.

The popular sport of golf is now widely considered an activity of rich people. Have you ever thought what makes golf so attractive to businessmen and politicians? (1) _________ they are mostly in their 50s and 60s, and with such safe and undemanding sport as golf, they still can improve their results. Golf is challenging. Among (2) ________ wealthy people, golf is exceptionally popular. Rich people really do not like to lose, and with golf, that won’t be too much of a problem because one can compete (3) _______ oneself. During a golf game, businessmen can concentrate on improving their own results while no one is trying to prevent their actions.

Another thing about the challenge of golf being so charming for rich people is (4) _______ they have accomplished the impossible to reach their heights. Golf would bring new experience to their lives and make it more interesting. Maybe that’s why golf is particularly popular among older businessmen, who have already done all they wanted in life and now are looking for some new feelings.

Playing golf is convenient. With rich people having very little of free time, golf is highly convenient as they can easily find golf courses open at nighttime. Besides, they wouldn’t have to drive too far to play golf. They don’t even necessarily need to have (5)_______ to play a nice round! As we already mentioned, one can play against himself to perfect the result.

Scuba diving is a sport in (1)__________ you swim underwater for extended (2)_______ using special equipment. The word Scuba is actually an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus. Scuba diving is an excellent way to see some very beautiful sites: coral diving sites with their colorful sea life are the most famous but other scuba diving (3)________include shipwrecks and caverns.

Scuba diving can also be a very relaxing sport and in many places it’s very beginner friendly. Many dive sites are (4)_________ (under the care of an instructor) after a short briefing and training dive. You can learn to dive far more quickly than you can learn snow sports, for example. It’s also suitable for people with a number of physical disabilities. (5)___________ you can use the breathing equipment and are able to successfully propel yourself underwater you may be able to dive.

For kids, water sports are adventurous and fun filled, but safety has to be given first priority. All kids should compulsorily wear life jackets, (1) ________ they know how to swim. All boats and rafts should also carry (2) ________ life jackets, whistle and lifebuoys. While playing water sports, kids need to be accompanies by an adult, preferably an attentive lifeguard, who must know how to swim. He should also know what to do during times of emergency and ABCs of giving first (3) ________. Water sports should always be carried out, when the climate is pleasant. If the weather is sunny, do apply sun screen cream to (4) _________ yourself from radiations.

There are different kinds of water sports for children. Let’s start with a simple water sport (5) __________ boating, which is very much enjoyable. In most of the kids and youths camps you’ll find boating and canoeing. If you want an adventurous water sport, then sailing has to be your first choice.