More non-Olympic games
Two weeks ago I announced a new initiative to collect descriptions of non-Olympic games as a part of the London-2012 season and the pre-Olympic celebrations.
Many people liked the idea and told me so via Facebook or through emails. Some of them sent me descriptions of the games they used to play as a child. Here's one from Nitasha Kaul:
"Brilliant... these Uzbek games... there was one I know from India where you had take turns to hit a cairn of stones with a ball with the aim of toppling it...
"And another - for girls - where two girls loop a very large elastic band around the ankles and stand a few paces apart. The persons playing have to then hop over the stretched elastic in the middle, as the height of the band is progressively raised with every step... I think a video would make it clear for the fun that it was... :)"
My colleague Thirumalai Manivannan wrote:
"Your description of "Chiliyak" is interesting - it is an almost exact version of the Tamil street game Kitt-Pullu, which we all played when we were young and which is now, slowly dying out thanks to computer games.
"Kitt-Pullu, which is sometimes described as the forerunner of cricket (!) is played not only in Tamil Nadu but also in many other Indian states. The game also has been played in Iran and Cambodia.
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"Ah, those good old days!!!!"
Another colleague, Suman Kharel, added: "Kitt-Pullu is called Dandi Biyo in Nepal and is played in exactly the same way. 'Dandi' is the long stick and 'Biyo' is the short sharpened stick. Many of us have been hurt by the Biyo. It's very painful if it falls on your face when you can't catch it."
Markus Hill from London sent in 'Parkour'...
I've recently come back from Kazakhstan, and I had the opportunity to record another game. It is the Kazakh version of wrestling called 'Kures'. The difference between this and the rest of the world is that in Kazakhstan the wrestlers begin by holding the each other's arms in the starting position.
As we see, after time spent wrestling ruthlessly these two boys are united again, this time by Manchester United...
Please send me more of your games.