Monday, November 05, 2007

Argentina is on top of the games

Yesterday, Angel Cabrera of Argentina won the Singapore Open Golf. This is his his fourth international victory this year. He had won the US Open earlier this year. He is the second Latin American to win a major, after Roberto Vincezo ( another Argentine) won the British open in the sixties.Andres Romero another Argentine, almost won the British Open this summer. He made ten birdies on the sunday and was leading untill the disastrous double bogies.

Yesterday marked another Argentine victory in Tennis. David Nalbandian won the ATP Masters after beating Federer and Nadal, the number one and two.Argentina has produced some great tennis stars in the past.

Last month Argentina came in the third place in World Rugby Championship.

In Footbal,Argentina is among the top. After the El Dies ( number ten) Maradona, now there is Lionel Messi capturing the imagination of the world footbal fans.
The rivalry between Boca and Riverplate is the most ferocious. There is also a class division here. Boca supporters are the masses while the Riverplate supporters are from the upper classes in general. This year Riverplate has won the semifinal of the World club championship and is now going to Tokyo for the finals.

Yesterday I saw a few buses full of screaming and shouting youth escorted by several police cars. They were fans of Independiente club, one among the top. They needed protection from their rival club fans! I had not seen this even in Brazil.

In Polo, Argentina is the best. They have the best nine players in the world of the top ten. There are so many polo grounds here. The horses and the game are not expensive. Kids learn horse riding during summer vacation in their farm estates.

Guess what is the national sport of Argentina.. it is Pato.. a polo game in which they used duck( pato in spanish means duck) instead of ball. The player hooks the duck from the ground and carries while the others try to stop. But these days they use a leather ball with a handle to hook and carry.

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