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.

The original Olympics were always held in Olympia, Greece but now, each modern Olympiad is held in or near a different city of the world. The earlier games were open only to Greek citizens and athletes from Mediterranean countries. The modern games (1)________all nations to compete.

Another big difference is that events for women have become a major part of the modern games. And female winners receive the same (2)________as the men who win.
In the ancient games, there were honors for cultural achievements. Modern competition is almost entirely athletic. Many of the contests held in modern Olympics were (3)________in early times. These include bicycle, canoe and yacht racing; soccer, basketball; judo, rifle shooting and swimming.

One of the most popular events of the modern Olympic is the marathon. This very tiring 26-mile foot race over an open course is the supreme test of the runners’ (4)_______. The marathon was not part of the ancient Olympics although it originates in Greece.

And finally, a more recent development in the Olympics are the winter games, (5)_______were started in 1924. They are held separately from the summer games but in the same year.

I started snowboarding in my late 20s and, knowing the dangers involved, my main aim has always been to get myself safely down the mountain in one piece. However, last year, I began to feel that my lack of courage was preventing me from improving. So I booked myself on the Snowcamp course in the town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the French Alps.

There were 14 of us on the course and we stayed in a cheap guesthouse just outside the town. It was a basic-looking building made of local wood. There were strict rules about recycling our rubbish and all the electricity came from a nearby windmill. The facilities, however, went well beyond what I had expected for the price. There was a log fire, a heated boot room, fine balcony views and a menu that any chef would be proud of.

Snowcamp was a good mix of holiday and group learning. Locations for lessons were chosen daily according to the snow conditions. Then we were put into three groups, depending on what skills people wanted to work on. Most of the time, I stayed on the main slopes. The teachers encouraged me to increase my speed and I even did some jumps. After a few days, a teacher called Johno persuaded me to take on a bigger challenge and try the deeper snow. The first 20 seconds of the lesson were fantastic, but then it got difficult. I kept sinking and then having to dig myself out. After 40 minutes, I felt like crying with tiredness and anger but I continued pushing myself and, when I got back on to the main slopes, I suddenly found everything far easier than before. It had been worth all the pain!

Gujarat’s favourite watering hole, Union territory of Daman, will add more activity for its tourists than let them hang around only in the bars on its sun-kissed beaches. The administration has decided to develop leisure water sports on Jampore and Light house beaches at Moti Daman. The tourism department of Daman has already selected two operators to run these leisure water sports facilities. At present, facilities like creation of ramps, walking area and waiting area for the tourists are under construction at the beaches.

Director of Daman Tourism, Harshil Jain told TOI, “The leisure water sports activities are all set to start very soon. We have not decided the dates, but the contractors are working day-and-night to set up facilities soon at both the beaches.” He further said that leisure water sports will help boost tourism in Daman. “The flow of tourist will increase during the vacation period. Till now, tourists come here to enjoy sitting on the beaches, but now they will have the option for water sports, too,” Jain added.

According to tourism department officials, the sporting activity would be set up on the lines of Goa. Attractions like jet skis, banana ride, para sailing, pedal boating, rowing, kayaking and motorboating will add to the beach fun, they said. A senior tourism officer said, “Since adventure has a risk factor, we have asked the contractors to keep provision of accidental insurance cover for all the tourists using the ride. Customers too must be covered for accidental death, loss of limb and permanent and partial disability.” “On the weekends alone, more than 60,000 people visit Daman. We are pretty sure that the water sports activity will increase the numbers to more than 80,000,” asserted another official.

Have you ever been cycling? This spring my elder brother and I left the busy city and spent a long weekend cycling in the countryside. Our average speed was only around 14 kph, but that didn’t matter. We hadn’t come to break any speed records, or to get fit and healthy. All we wanted was some fresh air and a break from schoolwork. My bike only once went more than 30 kph, and that was when I raced my brother down the only hill on our route.

We really enjoyed cycling along flat, traffic-free country paths. There was plenty of spring sunshine, but it was quite cold, especially in the morning. We didn’t mind, though - and we soon warmed up as we rode along. Our only problem was when my brakes started making a terrible noise. But I didn’t mind as it gave us an excuse to visit a cafe while a helpful bike mechanic had a look at it.

That was one of the best things about our route: every few kilometres there was a village where we could find everything we needed. All the local people were really friendly, too. However, most places we stopped at served chips with the meals, which soon got fairly boring. One night we were woken at 4 a.m. by a group of rugby fans singing loudly in the hotel corridor. We were tired and bad-tempered when we set off the next morning and very nearly got lost, but soon felt more cheerful when the sun came out. That’s what I like about cycling - it’s simple and it’s fun. If you’re looking for a short break that’s active and cheap, then cycling is a great choice!

One of the most interesting parts of the earth for many people was and continues to be the beautiful world of the sea. People were always attracted to the mysteries of the deep waters when they saw a little part of the under water world on television or in photographs. Due to this intense attraction caused by the mystery of the waters, more and more people choose to practice scuba diving, which became in time one of the most popular sports around the world. Scuba diving is a complex sport that requires some research before being understood at its real value. In order for someone to practice it, it is required for them to take some courses so accidents can be avoided.

Scuba diving is not only about diving and observing the amazing environment that exists under the waters. This sport can be transformed into a successful career by those who are truly passionate about it. At the moment, scuba diving has four main areas of interest: recreation purposes, commercial purposes, scientific research and military activity as well. The most frequent reason why people go for scuba diving is because they want to relax in a special way, by having contact with a less known world.

A great thing about this sport is that it can be practiced anytime around the year; however, you should choose the summer if you have problems with low temperatures. Once you take the lessons, you get the basic knowledge before diving, you should talk to a specialist and obtain quality equipment for this activity. For the beginning, you can only rent scuba diving equipment, but if you get attached to this sport, then you will have to purchase one of your own at some moment. Some of the most important parts of the scuba gear are the mask, the snorkel, the diving suit, the gloves, the boots and the diving regulator.

If you finally decided to try scuba diving and you already took some scuba courses then you must be thinking about what location to choose. This is one of the most difficult decisions to make as our world is filled with numerous destinations, equally beautiful and interesting. If this passion catches you then you will surely get to visit more and more amazing locations each year. There is no such thing as the most beautiful waters to scuba diving in as each part has something to offer and shelters special creatures that should be observed.

An American game that has traveled well is basketball, now played by more than 250 million people worldwide in an organized fashion, as well as by countless others in “pick-up” games. Basketball originated in 1891 when a future Presbyterian minister named James Naismith (1861-1939) was assigned to teach a physical education class at a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. The class had been noted for being disorderly, and Naismith was told to invent a new game to keep the young men occupied. Since it was winter and very cold outside, a game that could be played indoors was desirable.

Naismith thought back to his boyhood in Canada, where he and his friends had played “duck on a rock,” which involved trying to knock a large rock off a boulder by throwing smaller rocks at it. He also recalled watching rugby players toss a ball into a box in a gymnasium. He had the idea of nailing up raised boxes into which players would attempt to throw a ball. When boxes couldn’t be found, he used peach baskets. According to Alexander Wolff, in his book 100 Years of Hoops, Naismith drew up the rules for the new game in “about an hour.” Most of them still apply in some forms today.

Basketball caught on because graduates of the YMCA school traveled widely, because Naismith disseminated the rules freely, and because there was a need for a simple game that could be played indoors during winter. Naismith’s legacy included the first great college basketball coach, Forrest “Phog” Allen (1885-1974), who played for Naismith at the University of Kansas and went on to win 771 games as a coach at Kansas himself. Among Allen’s star players was Wilt Chamberlain, who became one of professional basketball’s first superstars – one night in 1962, he scored a record 100 points in a game.

The first professional basketball league was formed in 1898; players earned $2.50 for home games, $1.25 for games on the road. Not quite 100 years later, Juwan Howard, a star player for the Washington Bullets (now called the Washington Wizards), had competing offers of more than $100 million over seven seasons from the Bullets and the Miami Heat.

Many teams in the National Basketball Association now have foreign players, who return home to represent their native countries during the Olympic Games. The so-called Dream Team, made up of the top American professional basketball players, has represented the United States in recent Olympic Games. In 1996 the Dream Team trailed some opponents until fairly late in the games. In Athens in 2004 Argentina took home the gold, the first time a Latin American country won the basketball honor.