Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rugby competitions, such as the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens, the World Under 20 Championship, and the Pacific Nations Cup.
Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924.
USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to serve as "the national governing body charged with achieving and maintaining high levels of quality in all aspects of rugby." USA Rugby is responsible for the promotion and development of the sport in the U.S. and promotion of U.S. international participation.
Syria national basketball team, nicknamed Nosour Qasioun , represents Syria in international basketball competitions. The squad is governed by SBF, and is part of the FIBA Asia zone. Based on the number of overall medals won, Syria is a major force among basketball teams of WABA and ABC. The team has won eight medals at the WABA Championship and five at the Arab Basketball Championship.
Sports in the Philippines is an important part of the country's culture. There are six major sports in the Philippines: basketball, boxing, tennis, football, billiards, and volleyball. Despite being a tropical nation, ice skating has recently become a popular sport in the Philippines. Sports such as athletics, weightlifting, aerobics, and martial arts are also popular recreations.
Rugby union in the United States is a fast growing sport in the nation. Rugby union at the youth, high school, college, amateur club, professional, and international levels is governed by USA Rugby. There are over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those of whom are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby since 2017.
Rugby union in Kenya is a popular sport, in particular due to the success of the Kenya national rugby sevens team in the rugby sevens format, and tournaments such as the Safari Sevens, which has been growing yearly, and now includes numerous international teams.
Rugby union in Armenia is a growing sport. The national team is currently unranked in the world rankings, which records only the top ninety-six countries. The governing body for Armenia is the Rugby Federation of Armenia.
Association football is the most popular sport in almost all Asian countries. Cricket is the second most popular sport in Asia, and is most popular in South Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, basketball, badminton and table tennis among others. Top sporting nations in Asia include China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Rugby union is the most popular sport in Fiji ; however, rugby league, netball, and association football are also widely played. Various forms of traditional boat racing and wrestling are also popular.
Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of World Rugby. Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 36 member unions in countries across Asia, stretching from Kazakhstan to Guam.
Rugby union in Sri Lanka is mainly played at a semi-professional and recreational level. It is a popular team sport with a history dating back to 1879. In 2012, according to International Rugby Board figures, there were over 103,000 registered rugby union players in Sri Lanka, making it the second largest rugby-playing nation in Asia, behind Japan.
Rugby union in Mexico is a minor but growing sport. Rugby union has a stronger following in Mexico with French communities. The Mexican Rugby Federation is the body directing rugby union in Mexico. It has the responsibility of organising and developing rugby in the country.
The most popular sports in Jamaica are mostly imported from Britain. The most popular sports are athletics, cricket and association football; other popular sports include basketball and netball.
Rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics was played for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics with both men's and women's contests. Rugby sevens was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The champions for the inaugural rugby sevens tournament in 2016 were Fiji for the men and Australia for the women. Prior to 2016, 15-a-side matches were played in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924.
Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held over six days in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics was the debut for rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics, though rugby union was last played at the 1924 games.
Sport in Bangladesh is a popular form of entertainment as well as an essential part of Bangladeshi culture. Cricket is the most popular sport in Bangladesh followed by Football. Ha-du-du is the national sport of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the top 10 cricketing nation of the world and have regularly qualified for World cup since 1999, the Country achieved arguably their greatest heights in Cricket when they defeated three of top-rated teams in 2015 Cricket World Cup to qualify for the quarterfinals. In 2015, they white-washed Pakistan and clinched the series by 3-0 and in another major achievement they won a series against India by 2-1 and in the same year they beat South Africa 2–1 in an ODI series and cemented their spot in Champions Trophy 2017. While in football, Bangladesh are only the second team from South Asia to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup (1980). The country's greatest success in football was their 2003 SAFF Championship tiumph along with winning gold at 1999 South Asian Games. Traditional sports like Athletics, Swimming, Ha-du-du, Boli Khela, Lathi Khela are mostly played in the rural areas while foreign sports like hockey, volleyball, handball, golf etc. are more popular among the urban folks. The National Sports Council (NSC) is the governing body to control all the sports federations and councils in the country and is responsible to the ministry of youth and sports. There are a total of 42 different sports federations affiliated with the NSC. Bangladesh Games is the largest domestic multi-sport tournament in the country where athletes and sports teams from all the districts participate.
Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby. However, it is not responsible for the organisation of the Six Nations Championship or the competitions run by European Professional Club Rugby.
The Syrian High Rugby Committee is the governing body for rugby union in Syria. It was founded in March 2012 and sent teams to the Arabian 7s Challenge Cup in 2017. Syrian High Rugby Commitee was fully affiliated to Asia Rugby in 2015, and became an associate member of World Rugby in 2022. Its headquarters is in Al-Fayhaa Sports Complex, Damascus.
