For example, the official national sport of Argent ina is an unusual sport called Pato. Pato is a bit like basketball, because the players try to throw a ball through a hoop to score a goal. But the big difference between pato and basketball is that in pato, the players ride on horses. The ball has handles, so it is easy to hold, but it's also easy for other players to pull it away from you. It can be dangerous because players can fall under the feet of the horses. The winner is the team with most goals at the end of six eight-minuteperiods.

In kabaddi, the national sport of Bangladesh, there are two teams, one on each side of a 'field'. The teams take turns to send a player, called a 'raider', to the other side of the field. To score a point, the raider must touch a player on the other side and then get back home to his side. He has to be quick, because he can't breathe when he's on the other side of the field, and he has to say "kabaddi, kabaddi" again and again during a raid to show that he isn't breathing. If a raider breathes before he gets back home, the other side gets a point. It's also difficult for the players on the other side. They must hold hands with each other, which means it's harder for them to get away from the raider. If they don't hold hands, the raider's side gets a point. The team with the most points at the end wins.

Brazil's official national sport is capoeira, a mixture of martial arts, dancing and music. Capoeira looks like a beautiful dance, but the fighting is still an important part of the sport . Players don't usually try to knock each other down, but instead they try to show who is the most skilful. Capoeira is becoming more popular in other countries, and every year thousands of students come to Brazil to study the sport.

Canada has two national sports , ice hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer. In modern lacrosse, there are ten players on each team. The players use a stick to catch, carry and throw the ball and to score as many goals as possible. The game started around 1,500 years ago, when there were between 100 and 1,000 players in each team - and the games could continue for two or three days!