Canada has not one but two official national sports. Ice hockey was declared the national winter sport and lacrosse the national summer sport in 1994, according to the Canadian government. Canadian J.G.A. Creighton is credited for developing the first hockey game using modern rules in Montreal in 1875, reports Just Landed. While the activity initially involved men only, women were eventually welcomed into the fold and won the Olympic gold metal in 2002 alongside the men. The sport has also produced one of Canada’s most famous athletes, Wayne Gretzky.

As for lacrosse, it has its roots with the Native people in Canada. It was a spiritually significant activity for this population and was known as “Baggataway” by the Algonquins and “Tewaarathon” by the Iroquois Nation, reports the Canadian Lacrosse Association. Interestingly, lacrosse was often used to settle disputes between tribes. The exact origin of the sport is unclear, but non-native clubs started forming in the late 1850s and early 1860s. By the turn of the century, it was the top sport in Canada.

In 2018, the South Korean National Assembly approved legislation that made Taekwondo its national sport, reports Inside the Games. Ninth-degree black belt Lee Dong-sup proposed the legislation with the intention of protecting the sport’s legal status. It was also a necessity in order to keep it in the Olympic Games. While it has its roots in South Korea, millions of people in many countries practice taekwondo, according to the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Norway, making it one of the most popular martial arts styles worldwide.

Taekwondo translates into “the way of the foot and fist” or “the art of kicking and punching.” It has its roots in martial arts known as Taekkyeon and Subak, which are hundreds of years old. Taekwondo became even more popular after it was used in a demonstration at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and it has been a part of the competition leg of the Olympics since 2000. The sport is defined by a series of kicks and punches, which vary in complexity.

In 2017, the government of Nepal decreed that volleyball was the country’s national sport. Officials were persuaded to make the designation by the Nepal Volleyball Association, which noted that the game can be played in small spaces and in all types of geographical locations, as well as the fact that it’s accessible to most of the country’s citizens, reported Online Khabar. Volleyball is the only national sport in Nepal, although some people have believed that kabaddi or dandibiyo were the country’s national sports.

People play volleyball in each of Nepal’s 77 districts, according to the same publication. It’s unclear exactly how or when volleyball got its start in the country or how it spread to rural areas, other than that the British introduced it to Nepal in the early 1930s. In the 1940s, the Nepal Volleyball Association was created, and the sport became quite popular with college students in the 1960s. The Nepalese started competing internationally by the 1970s. Despite being the country’s national sport, the government does not invest a lot of money in volleyball, and there’s no official volleyball academy or system to train new players. The country also lacks a covered training space. 

It was a bit of a surprise when Bangladesh officials chose the contact sport kabaddi, formerly known as ha-du-du, instead of football or cricket as the country’s national sport in 1972, according to ESPN. The nation had just gained its independence, so it’s likely that those involved in the decision-making process wanted a sport that was ingrained in the country’s history. While the choice was a bit controversial, popular player Abdul Jalil said of the decision, “This was an easy game to understand, and it was what the farmers played in the villages during Eid and (Durga) Puja, and other festivities.”

The game, which is simple to play, has stayed true to its roots over the years, even though it’s now an international sport. Kabaddi is more popular among rural residents than city dwellers. Bangladesh has won several medals over the years, including third place in the Kabaddi World Cup in 2004 and 2007. However, kabbadi doesn’t have the financial backing of football or cricket and appears to be the red-headed stepchild instead. As a result, the players must have day jobs to support themselves, and they play kabaddi on the side.

Charrería has been the official national sport of Mexico since 1933. Similar to a rodeo, the sport centers on teams of horseback riders, the games are typically played on Sundays, and they’re very popular among certain communities, according to Culture Trip. Charrería was created in the western part of the country after the Spanish imported horses to Mexico in the 16th century. Farm workers participated in the games, known as charreadas, to demonstrate their skills riding horses. The National Charro Association was established in 1921.

Today, the games features nine different events, or “suertes,” as well as a female riding event. Participants get their start in the sport when they’re as young as three years old and master several skills involving speed and precision. They must also learn how to control the horses and get them to perform a variety of tasks, such as stopping suddenly.

You can also find the sport being played in parts of the United States, such as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, which were once part of the Mexican Republic.

The Chilean Olympic Committee declared Chilean rodeo as the country’s national sport in 1962, but citizens have been participating in the activity for at least four centuries, according to Chile Off Track. The sport was developed circa 1557-1561, when cowboys and horseback riders known as huasos herded animals from the Andes back to Santiago, where the calves were branded and sorted. Back then, the rodeos took place over several days and were very intensive. The huasos eventually created a point system and made a game out of the activity.

These days, rodeos take place on Saturdays and Sundays between September and April, culminating with the National Rodeo Championship Finals in the Monumental Stadium of Rancagua, which has a 20,000-person seating capacity and is the biggest equestrian event venue on Earth. It takes participants approximately five years to become proficient in the sport. One reason is because it takes a lot of time to train a horse properly so that he or she stays in tip-top condition and is able to safely execute the moves directed by the huaso.