There are also Egypt, Iran and South Korea – the teams that are playing at this year’s World Cup, although they are not appreciated. But they are “unmatched” on other playgrounds.
Although very expected, but Argentina had an unexpected opening at the 2018 World Cup. In the “underground” , the Egyptian and Korean teams also received defeat in the opening round.
The common point is that with these national teams, although they are very good at being in the biggest football cup on the planet, this is still not a “national” sport in which they have an outstanding advantage.
So let’s find out what other sports Egypt, South Korea, Argentina and even Iran – the four teams competing in this year’s World Cup – will be “invincible” in!
Squash or squash is a racquet sport in which two people (or two pairs) play against each other. The field is closed on all four sides with a small, hollow rubber ball. Players take turns hitting the ball with their racquets into the legal areas on the walls of the court.
Squash sport.
When it comes to tennis, we must mention the country of the Pharaohs. As of June 2018, the four best men’s squash players in the world belong to Egypt.
Back in history, squash was formed in England in the 19th century, then spread throughout the colonies, including Egypt.
The first famous squash champion is also an Egyptian who worked in the UK. It was Mr. FD Amr Bey, the champion in the 1930s. His success inspired the young Egyptians to flourish in this sport until 10 years later.
Then, from about 1940 to 1980, Egyptian squash leveled off due to many social changes. But it began to flourish again in the late 80s and early 90s, especially under former President Hosni Mubarak – who was a great squash player.
The reigning squash champion Egypt, Mohamed Elshorbagy.
Today, squash in Egypt still has outstanding development conditions. Schools and families both encourage talent.
The prestigious clubs are concentrated in the capital Cairo (far from the US when clubs are scattered throughout Philadelphia, New York, Boston), which creates an extremely dynamic and competitive environment.
Iran is the most formidable opponent in the Olympic Games with weightlifting and wrestling. In taekwondo, they don’t have the strongest athletes, but they have a lot of potential.
Kianoush Rostami at the 2016 Olympics, won a gold medal in the 85kg category and set a record after lifting 396kg.
The reason is that since ancient times, even before Islam, Iran had Varzesh-e-Bastani (meaning “ancient sport”). It combines elements of wrestling, heavy lifting and intense fighting.
Varzesh-e-Bastani.
Over time, the element of spirit and physical strength has always been emphasized in Iranian culture, helping the country to produce the top athletes in weightlifting and wrestling to date.
Bows and arrows have long been familiar weapons during feudal times in Asia. But in the form of modern sports, no country can surpass Korea.
Korea is famous for its archery skills. (illustration).
Archery was introduced into the Olympics for the first time in 1972. Since then, Korea has won a third of its medals, including 23 out of 40 gold medals throughout the competitions.
The first Korean archer to achieve global fame was Kim Jin-Ho, who won the 1979 International Tournament in Berlin, Germany. This is a milestone marking Korea’s consecutive winning streak from 1984 – 1996.
Today, not only in Asia, but archery is very popular in many European countries, notably France. However, the amount of money that the Korean government invests in developing this sport is almost three times higher than its French rival, at about 871 thousand USD (equivalent to 19.8 billion VND).
Besides traditional factors and strong financial resources, Koreans also believe that archery talent is ingrained in their veins.
Kim Soo Nyung, four-time Olympic champion in three competitions 1988-2000.
Kim Soo Nyung, a four-time Olympic champion, said: ” Koreans are very sensitive and can control every small part of the body, including the fingers.
Especially flexible fingers help us aim accurately. But in archery, the small difference between 9 and 10 has a great influence on the spirit of competition.
Still have the ball, still play as a team, but the sport that the Argentinians are unbeatable is not football but polo.
Polo (also known as Bridge Code) consists of 2 teams, each team consists of 4 people riding on 4 horses. Their task is still to score, that is, using a mallet with a long handle to hit the ball (made of hard plastic, inflatable rubber or wood) into the opponent’s goal. Traditionally, the sport is played at high speed.
Polo competition in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.
The Argentinians are particularly good at polo. They not only have the most elite squad, but also own the most “fighting” horses and organize consecutive seasons. In 2016, according to experts, 9/10 best polo players belonged to Argentina.
But like Egypt with squash, the Argentinians did not invent polo, it was brought by the British.
However, Argentina quickly caught up and surpassed the British in the 1930s. It was because rural life in Argentina was associated with a nomadic life, roaming on horseback. More people in Argentina ride horses than anywhere else in the world.
Horseback riding is both a game when traveling, a sport and a cultural feature of Argentina.
Today, horseback riding in Argentina is still a unique cultural feature. As for polo, young talents were soon discovered and trained at the age of 12, 13. Every day they practiced from noon to evening.
Moreover, every Argentinian seems to think that their brother or uncle is very good at polo and that they inherit that family tradition.
It can be seen that, besides obvious factors such as innate talent, finance, etc., long-standing factors (culture, history, tradition, geography) also contribute significantly to success. of the national team in international sports arenas.
But in sports there are always miracles and surprises, let’s see what the “big” and “dark horse” teams (potential teams) will do at global competitions, First of all, in the ongoing 2018 World Cup.