Sport, athletic games or tests of skill have been undertaken primarily for the diversion or recreation of the participants or spectators. Sport has great and varied manifestations. It has been restricted to any play, pastime, exercise, game or contest performed under the given rules.
It has been played either indoor or outdoor
On individual or team basis, with or without competition, but requiring skill and some form of physical exertion. Some Sports, such as hunting, fishing, running and swimming have evolved out of the primitive ways and lifestyle of human life. Some Sports, such as riding, shooting, throwing the javelin or archery have derived from early military practices and background. Sports like boxing, wrestling and jumping, had arisen from the spontaneous human outbursts and challenges and occasional hostilities that had accompanied human interaction.
The development of sport in the ancient, middle ages and in the modern days has been phenomenal. In the ancient days, the Greek and Roman had evinced a keen interest in developing sport. It was the Greek who organized the Olympics and interestingly people from all over the world participated and witnessed it. Thus modern Olympics had originated in Athens city of Greece. The feudal system of the middle ages had hampered the growth of sport that was revived only in the days of renaissance. In the modern days, especially in the 20th century, sport has witnessed an organized growth and development of games.Baseball in the US, cricket in England, hockey in countries like India and Pakistan are some of the games that developed rapidly in the 20 th century.Olympic games, Pan-American games, Commonwealth Games and Afro-Asian Games etc have been organized and held at periodic intervals, making the sport as an international event in the 20 th century.
In the 21 century, sport has turned ultra-modern and developed with high tech facilities.
The games like cricket , football and hockey have increasingly become global.Frequent changes in the rules of the games have been further complicated by the umpiring controversies due to human errors.The building of ultramodern stadia, provision of adequate infrastructure facilities etc had further increased their problems manifold and put them under a heavy financial stake.On the other hand technology has facilitated live telecasting and viewing of the matches and games so easy, thereby easing the common mans’ burden to some extent.The Olympic events have been held under the auspices of International Olympic Association. Almost all countries of the world have become members of International Olympic Association and participate in Olympics, which is periodically held once in four years. Similarly cricket has a governing body called International Cricket Council to hold the premiere events like the world cup and the champions trophy etc with the object of spreading cricket throughout the world. Hockey has an International governing council known as International Hockey Federation, enrolling all hockey playing members in the world. Similarly soccer world cup has been held under the auspices of an international organization once in four years.The soccer playing member countries have to go through rigorous qualifying rounds before participating in the soccer world cup. Modern sport has also witnessed the evolution of multimillionaires like Sachin Tendulkar in cricket, Ronaldo in soccer, William sisters in Tennis, who have risen to prominence by dint of their hard work, skill and passion for their respective games.
