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| Georgians ქართველები |
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| History of Georgia |
Sport in Georgia has a long history.
The most popular sports in Georgia are football, basketball, rugby union, wrestling, judo and weightlifting. In 19th-century Georgia polo and the traditional Georgian game lelo were popular, later replaced by rugby union.
Wrestling remains a historically important sport. Some historians claim that the Greco-Roman style of wrestling incorporates many Georgian elements. [1] Within Georgia, one of the most popularized styles of wrestling is the Kakhetian style. However, other styles are not as widely used today. For example, the Khevsureti region of Georgia has three different styles of wrestling.
Football is one of the most popular sports in Georgia. [2] [3] It is governed by the Georgian Football Federation (GFF). The GFF organizes the men's, women's, and futsal national teams. Modern football was introduced by English sailors playing in Poti at the beginning of the 20th century. [3]
Rugby union is one of the most popular team sports in the country. They have qualified in every single Rugby World Cup since 2003, their best result being winning two games at pool stage in the Rugby World Cup 2015. [4] Their national team is considered to be Tier 2 with high performance. [5]
Lelo, or lelo burti (Georgian: ლელო ბურთი), literally a "field ball [playing]", is a Georgian folk sport. It is a full contact ball game, similar to rugby. [6] Within Georgian rugby union terminology, the word lelo is used to mean a try, and the popularity of rugby union in Georgia has been attributed to it.
In 2014, lelo burti, along with khridoli, a traditional martial art, was inscribed by the government of Georgia as a "nonmaterial monument" of culture. [7]
It appeared in the 12th century Georgian epic poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" in which the characters play lelo burti. [8]
Georgia has produced world-class basketball players including Tornike Shengelia, Vladimir Stepania, Nikoloz Tskitishvili and most notably Zaza Pachulia. Georgians strongly support their national team. Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of the country, travelled to Lithuania to support his team at the 2011 EuroBasket with 1,500 fans from Georgia.
Georgia co-hosted EuroBasket 2021 in Tbilisi alongside Czech Republic, Germany and Italy.
Tornike Shengelia is playing in Euroleague, they had wins against Serbia, Lithuania and Greece.
As of March 2021, Georgia's men ranked 36th in the world. [9]
Weightlifting is a sport athletes compete in lifting a barbel with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete vying to succesessfully lift the heaviest weights. (information is copied from this link weightlifting )
The only race circuit in the Caucasian region is located in Georgia. Rustavi International Motorpark was originally built in 1978 and re-opened in 2012 after reconstruction [10] costing $20 million. The track satisfies FIA Grade 2 requirements and currently hosts the Legends car racing series and Formula Alfa competitions. [11]
Nodar Kumaritashvili (Georgian: ნოდარ ქუმარიტაშვილი; 25 November 1988 – 12 February 2010) suffered a fatal crash during a training run prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics competition in Vancouver, Canada. He was the fourth athlete to die during Winter Olympics preparations in history, and the first in 18 years. The opening ceremonies of the Games, led by IOC President Jacques Rogge, which took place later on the fateful day, were dedicated to the 21-year-old.
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
The Georgia national rugby union team, nicknamed The Lelos represents Georgia in men's international rugby union. The team is administered by the Georgian Rugby Union and takes part in the annual Rugby Europe Championship and the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.
Over the centuries, Uzbekistan has had a tradition of fostering equestrians and wrestlers (palvins). Some of the sports that originate in the country are the kurash, which is a type of upright wrestling. Other types of wrestling are belbogli kurash, turon, and boyqurgan all having the same origins. Other popular sports in Uzbekistan are football, boxing, wrestling, futsal, and judo.
Kazakhstan's President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has challenged sports organizers to engage 30 percent of the country's population in sports. The state has numerous sports clubs where people participate in various types of sports; sport facilities are available to the general public. Kazakhstan currently hosts major international tournaments; Astana and Almaty hosted the VII Asian Winter Games 2011, which drew teams from 27 countries.
Rugby union in Georgia is a popular team sport. Rugby union is considered one of the most popular sports in Georgia.
LELO is a Swedish company that designs and sells upmarket sex toys. Products are massed produced in Suzhou Industrial Park, China.
A wide array of sports are played in Armenia. Popular sports in Armenia include football, basketball, volleyball, and ice hockey. Further, the country sends athletes to the Olympics in boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, judo, gymnastics, track and field, diving, swimming, and shooting. Armenia's mountainous terrain provides great opportunities for the practice of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Being a landlocked country, water sports can only be practiced on lakes, notably Lake Sevan. Competitively, Armenia has been very successful at chess, weightlifting, and wrestling at the international level. Armenia is also an active member of the international sports community, with full membership in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Federation of International Bandy (FIB), International School Sport Federation, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), among others. It also hosts the Pan-Armenian Games.
Khridoli is an eclectic martial art from Georgia. It consists of five components, namely khardiorda (wrestling), krivi (boxing), p'arikaoba (fencing), rkena, and archery.
The Georgia men's national basketball team represents the country of Georgia in international basketball matches, and is controlled by the Georgian Basketball Federation. Georgia became a member of FIBA in 1992, after they gained independence from the Soviet Union. The national team played their first official match against Poland in 1995.
The most popular sport in Russia is soccer. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice hockey came in second with handball, basketball, futsal, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis, and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
Sport in Moldova has reached international levels as individuals compete at the European, World and Olympic levels. Most notably, Moldova has won a range of medals at the European championships in boxing, Judo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Greece has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Football in particular has seen a rapid transformation, with the Greece national football team winning the UEFA Euro 2004. Many Greek athletes have also achieved significant success and have won world and olympic titles in numerous sports during the years, such as basketball, wrestling, water polo, athletics, weightlifting, with many of them becoming international stars inside their sports. The successful organisation of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games led also to the further development of many sports and has led to the creation of many world class sport venues all over Greece and especially in Athens. Greek athletes have won a total 161 medals for Greece in 17 different Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games, including the Intercalated Games, an achievement which makes Greece one of the top nations globally, in the world's rankings of medals per capital
Lelo or lelo burti, literally a "field ball [playing]", is a Georgian folk sport, which is a full contact ball game, and very similar to rugby. Within Georgian rugby union terminology, the word lelo is used to mean a try, and the popularity of rugby union in Georgia has also been attributed to it. In 2014, lelo burti, along with khridoli, a traditional martial art, was inscribed by the government of Georgia as a "nonmaterial monument" of culture.
Rugby union in the Soviet Union was a moderately popular sport. It was most popular in the Georgian SSR; parts of the Russian SFSR such as Moscow and certain regions in Siberia like Krasnoyarsk; and Alma-Ata, the capital of the Kazakh SSR. Rugby enjoyed a more limited popularity in the Ukrainian SSR, Minsk in the Byelorussian SSR and parts of the RSFSR such as Leningrad and areas in Southern Russia, including Krasnodar. Rugby gained a significant following due to the vast size of the Soviet Union, but was never a major sport; despite many attempts to develop the sport, which Soviet citizens came to nickname the "leather melon" due to the shape of the ball. Still, an early championship in 1960 gives an idea of the sheer scale of Soviet rugby: one hundred teams from over thirty cities took part.
Metalurgi Rustavi is a defunct Georgian football team based in Rustavi, which has twice won the national league.
Tornike "Toko" Shengelia is a Georgian professional basketball player for Virtus Bologna. At a height of 2.06 m tall, he plays at the power forward position. Shengelia also represents the senior Georgian national team. He earned an All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2018.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Serie A club Napoli and the Georgia national team. He is considered to be one of the best young players in the world, known for his flair, dribbling and playmaking.
Mamuka Pantsulaia was a Georgian footballer who played as a forward and made one appearance for the Georgia national team.
FC Rustavi is a Georgian football club based in the city of Rustavi. Following the 2022 season, they were relegated to Liga 3, the 3rd tier of the national football system.
The 2022 Erovnuli Liga 2 was the sixth season under its current title and the 34th season of second-tier football in Georgia. The four-round competition began on 1 March and ended on 2 December with playoffs completed on 12 December.
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