In the US, every sport seems to have a personality, and everyone knows which sports are popular. It’s the same in India. So here’s the rundown on a couple of sports.
Cricket- The national sport. Everyone loves playing cricket, and one can spot kids playing cricket in the street all the time. Equivalent: American baseball in the golden era.
Field Hockey- The “Bro” sport. All of the “cool guys” play field hockey (no, not in kilts). It’s also pretty popular at the national level, and is in the papers. American Equivalent: College Lacrosse.
Badminton- The “free time” sport- Badminton is a sport that people play in their free time. I can’t really tell if it’s followed on the national level, but people pull out badminton rackets quickly if there is free time, and everyone of every age will play. American Equivalent: Pick-up Football or Ultimate Frisbee (with less people, obviously).
Soccer (here- football)- The international sport- People seem to think of soccer as an international sport that they follow, meaning that they will follow teams other than India on the international circuit. The other day I heard a kid talking about a Portuguese soccer player at school. Equivalent: Soccer everywhere but America
Tennis- A sport to learn- Tennis seems to be pretty popular, and tennis lessons are a big thing here from what I understand. American Equivalent: Golf and Tennis.
Squash- The people’s sport. There are 2 full sets of squash courts at BHU, which speaks to its popularity here. American Equivalent: Maybe football…
Track and Field- The Steroid Sport. Although running does not really seem to be a big thing here in Varanasi, running is definitely in the paper a lot. In particular, women’s running seems to be popular, despite (or maybe because of) the number of steroid scandals. American Equivalent: Blood doping in international cycling
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