Popular 5 Sports in Mongolia
Large number of sports activities, both Western and traditional Mongolian, have becoming more and more popular in Mongolia. Basketball, football, freestyle wrestling, boxing, judo and table tennis are all major sports in Mongolia. Here collected are the top 5 most popular sports in Mongolia for all men, women and children:
Three manly games (Horse racing, Wrestling, Archery):
The three men’s sports, horse racing, archery, and national wrestling, are the most popular sports in Mongolia which every Mongolians loves to watch and play. There even the biggest festival is held for these games every year.
Wrestling– Mongolian boys grow up wrestling as a game. When a couple have a boy, it’s common to give their boy one of the most popular wrestlers’ names or may wish him to be a wrestler in the future.
Horse racing– Mongolian kids in the countryside first ride horse even before they learn to walk. During Naadam Festival, horse racing moves Mongolians to happy tears in their eyes.
Archery– Our folk legends tell of Erekhe Mergen, the great archer who saved the people from a drought by shooting down six suns. Our ancestors were powerful warrior archers. Nowadays archery is one of the 3 traditional sports of the Great Naadam Festival.
Judo wrestling
Today Judo is certainly one of the most popular sports, watched and trained for Mongolians. Until Beijing 2008, Mongolia had no gold medals in its Olympic history; the first-ever gold medal was won by judoka N.Tuvshinbayar in the men’s 100 kg category. The victory re-united the nation following the most difficult events in a generation: only a month before, Ulaanbaatar had seen the first time a bloody riot sparked by allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative election.
Pistol Shooting
Pistol shooting is one of the well-known sport in Mongolia and one of the sports that Mongolian women are succeeding. Munkhbayar Dorjsuren is a two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist (now a German citizen), and Gundegmaa of the Squad has an Olympic silver medal. During Olympic, Mongolians look forward to watching this sport category and expect medals.
Boxing
There has been a lot of success in amateur & professional boxing. Enkhbat’s Badar-Uugan won gold and Purevdorj’s Serdamba won silver medals at the Beijing Olympics. P.Serdamba became the world champion for the first time among Mongolian athletes in 2009. Earlier this year, N.Tugstsogt won the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) World Championship title and belt after defeating Dominican boxer Claudio Marrero. The Mongolian won a silver medal in the flyweight category of the 2012 Summer Olympics. Since turning professional, ‘King Tug’ has had eleven fights, almost all of which he has won by knockout.
