Sports of Iran
Middle East
Originating in Iran
Sports whose history and codification began here.
Ganjifa
From Iran
Round hand-painted cards from Mughal India and Persia — used in trick-taking games with 8, 10 or 12 suits.
Polo
From Iran
Team equestrian sport — 4 mounted players per team hit small wooden ball toward goal using long-handled mallets. Ancient origins ~600 BC Persia + Central Asia; modern rules codified 1859 by British in India (Silchar Polo Club). Field 274 × 183m — largest team sport playing field. Governed by FIP; iconic in Argentina (top players + most-decorated), UK (Cowdray Park), USA, India.
Shatranj
From Iran
Medieval Persian chess — the direct ancestor of modern chess, played across the Islamic world for a thousand years.
Widely played in Iran
Backgammon
From Iraq
A 5,000-year-old race game — roll two dice and bear off all 15 checkers before your opponent, using the doubling cube to raise the stakes.
Chess
From India
A two-player strategy game on an 8×8 board — checkmate the enemy king before your own falls.
Discus Throw
From Greece
Ancient athletics throwing event — athlete rotates 1.5 turns within a 2.5m diameter circle and hurls a heavy metal-rimmed disc (2 kg men, 1 kg women) for maximum distance into a 34.92° landing sector.
Freestyle Wrestling
From United States
Olympic wrestling style that allows attacks on both the upper and lower body — takedowns, throws, exposure and pins score points across two 3-minute periods.
Futsal
From Uruguay
5-a-side indoor football played on a hard court with a smaller heavier ball that barely bounces — 2 halves of 20 minutes, faster tempo than football, developed in Uruguay/Brazil (1930s), core to Brazilian football technique development.
Kabaddi
From India
A high-tempo South Asian contact sport in which a solo 'raider' crosses into enemy territory to tag defenders and return home — all in a single breath.
Karate
From Japan
Okinawan striking art of empty-handed punches, kicks, elbows and knees — contested as forms (kata) and sparring (kumite).
Kho Kho
From India
Traditional Indian tag sport in which one team of 9 chasers try to tag runners from the opposing team on a rectangular field, using seated relay-style handoffs and directional running.
Kickboxing
From Japan
Stand-up combat sport combining boxing punches with karate/muay-thai-inspired kicks, contested in a ring with various rulesets (K-1, Full-Contact, American, Dutch).
Sitting Volleyball
From Netherlands
PARALYMPIC volleyball for athletes with lower-limb disabilities. Players SIT on floor + must maintain hip contact with floor while playing ball. Court 10m × 6m (smaller than standing volleyball); net 1.15m (men) / 1.05m (women). Highly athletic + strategic. Originated 1956 Netherlands. Paralympic sport since 1980.
Snooker
From India
Cue sport played on a 12×6 ft green baize table with 15 red balls, 6 coloured balls, and 1 white cue ball — pot reds and colours in strict alternation to score, break of 147 is the maximum.
Table Tennis
From United Kingdom
Fast-paced indoor racket sport played on a 9-foot table divided by a low net — hit a lightweight ball with a rubber paddle before it bounces twice.
Taekwondo
From South Korea
Korean striking art defined by fast, high, spinning kicks — Olympic sport since 2000 with electronic-scored sparring.
Volleyball
From United States
6-a-side team sport where players use hands and forearms to send a ball over a high net, aiming to ground it on the opposing side within three touches.
Weightlifting
From Greece
Olympic sport in which athletes lift a loaded barbell overhead in two competition lifts: the Snatch (single motion from floor to overhead) and Clean & Jerk (two-motion lift to shoulders then overhead).
Wushu
From China
Modern Chinese martial art with two competition disciplines — Taolu (choreographed forms judged on technique + artistry) and Sanda (full-contact combat with punches, kicks, throws, and takedowns) — descended from thousands of years of traditional Kung Fu.