Pick your players and grab an elephant (or granny) -- these sports are definitely 'unique'
1. Seoul, Korea: Penguin soccer
To promote its participation in the 2002 World Cup, South Korean organizers rounded up a team of small penguins. The rookies donned colorful jerseys and punted a miniature soccer ball. Despite the haphazard game, the fangirls were visibly charmed.
2. Southeast Asia: Elephant polo
Swap the horses for elephants and you’ve got pachyderm polo. Two riders sit on each beast: one steers the animal; the other strikes at balls with a wicket. According to legend, the game originated in Nepal after a drinking bout. Today, it’s popular all over Southeast Asia. There’s even an annual World Elephant Polo Championship.
3. Mikame, Japan: Pig rodeo
Let me set the scene: You’re perched on top of a 140 kg bucking beast, trying desperately to hang on for a chance at ¥50,000. The ferocious animal isn’t a steer or a bull… but a one-year-old pig. Mikame’s one-of-a-kind rodeo has been a summer tradition for 26 years. The video reveals that few contestants are able to mount a pig for more than a few seconds
4. Ito, Japan: Laundry tub race
For 54 years, Ito residents have been going “rub-a-dub-dub.” Every July, hundreds of competitors squeeze their bums into a laundry tub and paddle furiously down Matsukawa River. The race is a tip of the hat to those who formerly washed clothes on the river banks. Some participants don costumes -- beer hats, Groucho Marx glasses -- and more than a few makeshift boats capsize.
5. Beijing, China: Hip hop grannies
A group of Chinese grandmas started a hip hop group -- insert ambulance joke here. But wait until you see them in colorful headbands and baggy urban wear, popping and locking without any sign of arthritis. 68-year-old leader Mrs. Wu initially met resistance from friends, who told her the dance was only performed by “bad people at the bottom of the society.” But she prevailed and now has a 60-strong posse with an average age of 57.
