Sports and Games born in India

[Guest guest]

Mel Siff:

<Many people may not be aware that many popular games and sports seem to

have originated in India. The following website offers some interesting

information in this regard:

http://www.crystalinks.com/indiasports.html

Ancient India - Sports & Games

Games like, Chess, Snakes and Ladders, Playing Cards, Polo, the martial

arts of Judo and Karate had originated in India and it was from here that these

games were transmitted to foreign countries, where they were further

developed..... >

Ihave to mention that martial arts existed in Greece from the 7th century

B.C, there are stories testifying that, and vases depicting combat to death or

submission, possibly spread to India from the army of the Great.

[since martial arts are an integral part of all warfare, some form of martial

arts

have been devised by many different groups of people from all parts of the

world,

but the specific forms such as judo and karate as we know them today were being

practicised in India and the Korean peninsula many years before anything similar

was being used in Greece. Greece, of course, was renowned for its formalised

wrestling, but even the Bible mentions wrestling in its earliest chapters, so

even

this 'sport' was practised hundreds of years before Grecian or Greco-Roman

wrestling became popular. We will probably never know the precise origins of

any of the martial arts, since almost all cultures have militarism as a central

part

of their cultures. Mel Siff]

Vassilis Constantinides

Cyprus Larnaca

* Kindly sign all letters with full name and city if you

wish them to be published