The Paralympic Games is being held in the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where more than 4000 athletes from around 176 countries are present to take part in 22 different sports. These athletes have so far showcased why they are so special by making their nations proud at the Games.
The Indian athletes have done what the abled athletes were unable to do at the Olympic Games. However, there are some sports where athletes from our nation do not participate in but are some of most interesting and unusual sports at the same time.
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These sports are not very common and have unique rules.
Here are five unusual sports you will find at the Rio Paralympic Games:
#1 Boccia
Boccia is a game of strategy which has its roots in Ancient Greece, where competitors throw stones at a target rock. The sport was then honed in mid-16th century Italy by the Italians and is now mainly contested by competitors with cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions.
The sport marked its Paralympic debut in the New York/Stoke Mandeville Games in 1984. The competitors in the event can get help from a ramp, or an assistant who must not face or look at the field of play. The players are to take turns throwing six red or blue balls, as close as possible to a white ball which is known as the jack. The winner is the team or player who lands the most balls closest to the jack.
In this sport, concentration is required as just one perfect or imperfect toss of a ball can alter the entire course of the game. Boccia matches consist of four rounds in individual events and pair events and, six rounds per match in team events.
There will be four individual, two pairs and one team event at the Paralympic Games in Rio.
The sport involves players to be in a wheelchair and is played by those that have cerebral palsy or other related locomotor conditions such as muscular dystrophy. The sport is classified into four types depending on the athletes’ disability. The four types are:
BC1 – athletes with cerebral palsy who can either kick or throw the ball
BC2 – athletes with cerebral palsy who find it a little easier to throw than BC1 athletes
BC3 – athletes with cerebral palsy who cannot independently kick or throw the ball three metres, and who therefore use a ramp
BC4 – athletes with an impairment other than cerebral palsy who have difficulty in throwing the ball
#2 Goalball
Goalball is a sport that was originally created in the year 1946 to help rehabilitate patients who had suffered damage to their body during the World War II. The sport is currently played by visually impaired athletes in 85 different countries and featured for the first time at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo 1976.
The sport consists of two 12-minute halves and is contested between two teams of six players each. Out of the six players, three are on the pitch and three are on the bench, with each wearing a blackout mask to ensure equality.
The players act as both attackers and defenders and try to score goals by throwing the ball either low or bouncing it. The goalball that is used in the sport weighs 1.25kg and has bells inside it to make a noise that the players follow.
The game is overseen by 11 referees in total, out of which two conduct the match, four replace balls and guide substitutes, and five are the scorers. The width of the two goals at either end is the width of the pitch, therefore the players position themselves accordingly in the positions they need to defend – right wing, left wing and in the central or pivot position.
Goalball will be played in Brazil by 10 men and 10 women's teams each.
Finland are the current men’s Paralympic champions as they won the gold medal in London 2012. Whereas, Japan will be defending the gold in the women’s event. Brazil are the men’s world champions and won the 2014 Goalball World Championships, while USA are the women’s world champions.
#3 Five-a-side football
Five-a-side football is a dynamic version of the beautiful game which was developed in Brazil in the 1960s when visually impaired students would kick a bottle with pebbles in it in a game called ‘goal to goal’.
Over the course of time, the bottle was replaced by a football with rattles inside it which help the players in locating the ball. The sport is played by players who are blind and are required to wear eyeshades which cannot be touched by the opponents. The only sighted players on each team on the pitch are the goalkeepers who give instructions to their teammates.
Verbal instructions are allowed on the pitch during the pitch but only by guides, goalkeepers and coaches. The guides are the team’s assistants who are positioned behind the opponent’s goal and help the team by shouting the moves to make and the direction to the goal.
In this game, there are no sidelines like in football, instead, low side walls measuring 1.2 metres in height are present. A game of 5-a-side football is divided into two halves of 25-minutes each, where an athlete will be sent off and substituted after committing a total of five fouls.
The spectators at the game also have to observe rules which include keeping quiet while the game is underway as the players need to hear the instructions and the sound of the ball.
The hosts Brazil have won every 5-a-side gold medal at the Games since Athens 2004 and will be the favourites to retain the crown.
#4 Sitting volleyball
Sitting volleyball is one of the Paralympic versions of the actual sport of volleyball. The game is played by two teams of six players each, and the rules are very similar to that of the Olympic counterpart.
In a normal volleyball game there are no rules related to the athletes being in contact with the floor while striking the ball but in sitting volleyball, a part of the athlete’s body from the buttocks to the shoulder must be in contact with the floor when they are attempting to land the ball in the opponents half of the court.
Each play must consist of no more than three touches before the ball crosses the net which is played usually in the form of a set and spike. The players competing for their nations are classified as either Disabled or Minimally Disabled and as the names suggest, the disabled athletes have an impairment that has a greater impact on their game than the Minimally Disabled.
It implies that many Minimally Disabled athletes are the players who play standing volleyball but have a significant injury to their ankle. The rules indicate that only one Minimally Disabled player is permitted per team at any point of the game. The points system is the same as is in the normal volleyball.
#5 Powerlifting
Powerlifting is the ultimate test of strength for the disabled athletes. The sport has been based on the lines of weightlifting but as the athletes competing in Paralympics are disabled, the sport has several differences when compared to weightlifting.
The men’s powerlifting has been a part of the Paralympic Games since Tokyo 1964, while the women’s sport started only at Sydney 2000.
Powerlifting as a whole involves three phases where squats, bench press and deadlift are involved.
However, in the Paralympic Games, the sport involves the athletes to lift up weight while in the bench press position only. Powerlifting is governed by the International Paralympic Committee and is open to anyone with a minimum level of disability who can extend their arms within 20° of full extension during a lift.
The athlete who successfully lifts the most weight at the competition is declared as the gold medal winner. At the Rio Paralympics, there are 10 weight categories in the sport where both the men’s and women’s medal events will take place.
A total of 120 athletes from 60 countries will take part in 20 powerlifting events.
