Sports are important for people as they are not a way to get yourself involved in an activity that entertains you and keeps you happy but also a way to meet other people and socialize with your friends. All across the globe, sports have become an integral part of different countries’ culture and the same is the case in Laos, where sports have strong relations with the country’s culture but which games and sports are popular in Laos? Let’s have a look at some of the most popular games in the country of Laos:
Sepak Takraw (Kataw)
Sepak Takraw is the national sport of Laos and also the most popular one. The sport is called Sepak Takraw but in the general public, it is also known as kataw. The game is simple and easy to play; Just like volleyball, you need a net, a rattan ball or plastic ball, and a total of six players, having three players on each side.
The objective of the game is to perform a maximum of three passes to yourself or your teammates and send the ball in the opponent’s half. If your opponents cannot send the ball back towards you and fail to continue the game, you score a point. If your opponents send the ball out of bounds then you also score a point. Each round or innings is finished when either team scores 21 points. The first team to win 2 innings wins the match.
The game is inspired by volleyball and very much similar to it except for the fact that you can use all the parts and surfaces of your body except for your hands and arms. This is the main twist in this game and similar to football, you have to play the game using your feet and legs.
Muay Lao
Muay Lao or Traditional Lao Boxing is a very popular sport of mixed martial arts in the country. All over the world, this sport has the reputation of being one of the most violent disciplines. Unlike boxing that is played all over the world, Muay Lao is a bit different. Muay Lao is very much similar to Muay Thai from Thailand and Tomoi from Malaysia. It is basically a mixed martial arts sport that involves knee strikes, punches, elbows, and kicks.
The fights between the fighters take place according to a ritual and the fighters before the start of any fight kneel down and pay homage to their Master(s) and pray. Once that is done, the fight starts which is played with musical background by a group of traditional musicians.
As it is evident from the discussion, the people of Laos are usually involved in physical sports rather than playing board games such as Scrabble which require several players to use Scrabble Word Finder and Jumble which at extremely difficult level cannot be solved by regular players and they have to use Jumble Solver to finish the game.
Petanque
The game of Petanque, which is the Laos National Game, is originally a French game. The game involves the players throwing or rolling a hollow metal ball close to a small wooden ball which is usually referred to as ‘jack’. The player who pitches his metal ball close to the jack wins but while pitching, the players must stay inside a circle and stand on both their feet.
The game of Petanque is very popular since it can be played almost everywhere, from streets to parks, from hard ground to gravel, it doesn’t matter what the conditions of the place are. For locals, the game has become an indispensable tradition and they play it everywhere.
Whether it is adults or children, you will find people of all ages playing this game because the game involves no thinking and is a matter of skill and luck that how you pitch to jack. It is a way for many locals to stay happy and relaxed after hours of hard work.
In addition to these three games that are popular and played all over the country, certain other games such as billiards and cock-fighting are also popular. Cock-fighting is officially banned in the country and is usually played in a hidden manner, however, for billiards, the locals are getting passionate and you will find a pool table in almost every bar of the county.
