Popular Sport Research Articles

Prevalence of Musculo-Skeletal Pain among Badminton Players in Twin Cities of Pakistan

Badminton is a popular sport with a rich tradition in Pakistan twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In badminton, players are more susceptible to certain musculoskeletal problems due to the sport's dynamic character, abrupt accelerations and decelerations. Badminton has an injury rate of 1 to 7/1000 hours per person of playing time. Objective: To find out prevalence of musculoskeletal problem including pain among the badminton players played in various clubs of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Methods: 255 badminton players participated in a convenience sample-based cross-sectional study after ethical permission. The incidence of musculoskeletal discomfort in novice badminton players' shoulder, elbow, wrist, hands, thigh, hips, knee and ankle was measured using a self-drafted survey and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. Data collection was done sports clubs of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Study ran from September 22, 2021, to June 30, 2022. SPSS version-25 software was used for data analysis. Results: The results showed prevalence was 16.5, back 18.4, hip 7.4, knee 28.6, ankle 16.5, elbow 22.4, wrist 21.2, low back 12.9, and shoulder 49.4. Among badminton players, the most common pain regions were the shoulder and knee. Other areas that players are less likely to have discomfort in include the hands, hips and ankles. Conclusions: Conclusions of study showed younger athletes had higher prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort. Most prevalent pain areas among badminton players were the knee and shoulder.

Customer Delight in Futsal of Pokhara Valley: A Narrative Study From the Customer Perspective

Futsal is a popular sport in Nepal and futsal centers play an important role in providing opportunities for people to play and enjoy the game. This study explored the factors that contribute to customer delight in futsal centers in Pokhara. A narrative analysis of the stories of futsal participants identified three distinct themes: physical environment, social interaction and surprise and joy. The participants emphasized the importance of a safe and comfortable physical environment, as well as the opportunity to socialize with friends and meet new people. They were also surprised by some of the positive benefits of playing futsal, such as weight loss and improved sleep quality. Finally, they experienced joy from a variety of things, such as winning games, spending time with friends, and being recognized by others. The findings of this study suggest that futsal centers should focus on providing a safe and comfortable physical environment, fostering social interaction, and surprising and delighting customers with unexpected benefits. By doing so, futsal centers can attract and retain customers, build loyalty, and generate positive word-of-mouth.

Development of a decision making assessment application for recruitment of young futsal athletes in Indonesia

Futsal is a popular sport in Indonesia which is loved by many people, so important components are needed in selecting futsal athletes so that they can maximize the athletes’ future achievements. This research aims to develop an Android-based application to make it easier to recruit futsal athletes with clear and measurable selection components to help make athlete selection easier. The research method used is the Borg and Gall development design which establishes 10 research steps, but the focus that will be presented in this research includes testing the results carried out, namely through expert tests and small-scale and large-scale field testing. The results of the analysis carried out revealed that the small class user assessment data for all aspects of the product received a final score of 4.58 which indicates that the product is included in the Excellent category. The Overall Average results from large class user assessment data on all aspects of the product received a final score of 4.63 which indicates that the product is included in the Excellent category. Based on all the tests that have been carried out, the product is suitable for use and recommended for selecting young futsal athletes in Indonesia.

THE DETERMINANTS OF SERVICE QUALITY IN SKI TOURISM

Regarding the fact that skiing is the most popular winter sport in Europe, the aim of the paper was to analyse the main determinants of service quality in ski tourism.
 When defining the research process, it was noted that literature review has recognised significant studies dealing with the concept of ski tourism from different aspects such as tourist motivation to travel, ski tourism sustainability and clime change, marketing strategies or ski tourism infrastructure. However, there is a certain research gap in exploring the determinants of service quality in winter sports. Therefore, the main research question in this paper is to identify the significant factors that influence the service quality in ski tourism and affect tourist satisfaction levels.
 The research is based on a sample of 157 recreational skiers who visited the Republic of Serbia during winter seasons in years 2022 and 2023. In the interpretation and processing of data, descriptive statistics and t test were used. The findings indicated the diversity of ski tracks, landscape, nature and hospitality as the most significant determinants of service quality in ski tourism.

Exploring Predictors of Team Performance in Curling Championships: An Investigation of Factors Predicting Success

Curling is one of the most popular sports of the Olympic Winter Games. As strategy is very important for curling, it is called “chess on the ice”. Given the exponential surge in sports-related data, the analysis of game performance has assumed paramount importance, as it provides a valuable avenue for improving overall athletic performance. The aim of this research was to examine the effect of some parameters on championship performance of elite level curling teams. The data used in this study were taken from the World Curling Federation Historical Results database. World Mens/Womens Curling Championships (2021 – 2022 – 2023) and European Mens/Womens Curling Championships results (2019 – 2021 – 2022) included in the study. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which the independent variables, namely Draw Shot Challenge distance, shot performance, stolen points for, stolen points against, hammer efficiency, force efficiency, and difference of generated and given points, explained team success. Statistical Package for Social Sciences 24.0 software used for statistical analyses. The results revealed an R-value of 0.902 and an adjusted R-squared value of 0.804. In the study investigating the factors influencing team success in World and European Curling Championships, it was concluded that the difference of points generated and given points, Draw Shot Challenge distance, and hammer use efficiency predicts championship success.

Sports Participation and Osteoarthritis in Females: A Systematic Review.

Sports participation and the risk of osteoarthritis (OA) have been a concern for decades. Few research efforts have been dedicated to clarify this issue for females, although they are considered at greater risk of developing OA than males. In contrast, several reviews have established an association between sports participation and OA for males. The aim of the systematic review was to assess the association between OA and participation in popular sports for females. PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched and yielded 578 articles. Nine eligible studies were included and covered ballet (age range: 19-54 years), running or tennis (age range: 40-65 years), Olympic sports (age range: not specified), volleyball (age range: 16.0 ± 0.8 to 46.8 ± 5.1 years), and cross-country skiing (age range: 15 to ≥60 years). For females, participating in sports at an elite level was associated with a higher risk of OA and an increased need for surgical treatment. At non-elite level, it was associated with a higher risk of OA, but it did not materialize to an increased risk for surgical treatment. Few studies compared females and males, and these studies suggested that sex did not affect the risk of developing OA from participating in sports. Nevertheless, to isolate the precise effect of sports participation on the development of OA remains difficult as injuries are common among athletes and are independently associated with an increased risk of OA.

Comparison of glutathione peroxidase-1 in free divers with their counterparts: A model study for sports informatics

Free diving is a popular sport because of many features such as sustainability, eco-friendly and challenges to nature. Due to increased interest in recent years, the number of competitions is also increasing gradually. On the other hand, scientific reports on the understanding of longer breath-holding mechanisms and metabolisms are still unclear. To provide contributions on this phenomenon, glutathione peroxidase was selected as a model enzyme because of its critical importance in breath-holding. The enzymes from both human and free diving animals were compared by using bioinformatics tools such as ProtParam, Swiss-Model, Clustal Omega and the results are discussed in the present paper. In conclusion, the specific amino acid sequences can be considered in the selection of elite free divers for international competitions to get the best results. However, it should be noted that special training methods should also be applied to have better breath-holding capacities.

Anthropometric Characteristics and Somatotype of Dragon Boat Paddlers

Introduction: Dragon Boating is a paddle-driven water sport that originated in China over 2000 years ago. Dragon Boat racing was a part of Chinese traditional culture .Dragon Boat racing has become a popular folk sport across the world. Methods: 29 Female and 36 male paddlers of the Indian National Dragon Boat team who participated in the 16th IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championship 2023 at Pattaya, Thailand were measured for their physical characteristics and body composition before their participation at a national training camp at Kolkata, India. Heath-Carter method(1967) was followed for Somatotyping. Durnin and Womersley (1974) equation was used to calculate body composition and Siri (1956) equation was followed for calculation of Fat %. Results: Average age, height, weight , Fat % and Somatotype of male Dragon Boat paddlers were 26.6(±6.9), 170.1(±5.2), 68.1(±9.1),16.9 %, and 3.4(±1.4)-5.0(±0.9)-2.1(±1.0) respectively whereas those of Female Dragon Boat paddlers were 21.9(±4.5) , 162.0(±6.5), 58.9(±12.8), 29.7(±4.9), and 5.6(±1.5)-3.5(±1.2)-2.4(±1.4) respectively. Conclusion: Indian National Female Dragon Boat Racing paddlers were Endomorphic with low muscularity in average whereas the Male National Dragon Boat Racing paddlers were Mesomorphic with more adiposity in average.

Popular Gym Fitness Sport: An Analysis of 1387 Recreational Athletes Regarding Prone to Pain Exercises and the Corresponding Localisations.

Recreational fitness sports are popular worldwide and rank first among organised sports. This study aims to bridge a knowledge gap by examining which exercises are most prone to causing pain symptoms, as a possible precursor for injury, and analysing the body regions that are most frequently affected. Using an online questionnaire, 20 demographic and training-specific items and 49 sport-specific exercises were recorded. Frequent exercises as well as the incidence and distribution of pain symptoms that the athletes experienced during or in relation to their training were evaluated. The study assessed common exercises and documented the frequency and distribution of pain symptoms experienced by athletes during or in relation to their training. A total of 1387 respondents were included in this study. Of these, 732 (53.1%) experienced pain during their fitness training, with 333 (24.2%) being female and 397 (22.3%) being male. The method of creating a training plan showed a significant influence (p < 0.001): athletes who devised their own plans reported pain or instability more frequently than those in the comparison groups. Guided exercises on machines resulted in the lowest frequency of pain (11.54%), while exercises with free weights were associated with the highest pain rate among respondents (19.94%). Specifically, exercises such as the back squat, deadlift, bench press, and triceps dips were identified as the exercises most commonly associated with pain. The most frequently reported pain region was the shoulder, followed by the lower back and knees. The findings reveal a significant number of unreported pain symptoms. The disparity between rigorous training volumes and the absence of professional care frequently leads to injuries and pain. It is incumbent upon sports medicine to investigate the root causes of these complaints (pain or instability) to implement preventive measures against potential injuries.

Analysis of the Premier League's Marketing Strategies and Business Operations Methods

The Premier League is the most popular sports league in the world. Since 1992, this League has become more and more popular and eventually occupied first place in the UEFA Coefficient ranking. How did they get such achievement in nearly 30 years? Except for on-field competition, they must make an effort to promote derivative industries like clothes, medical devices, shoes, tickets, field building, and other marketing strategies such as finding sponsors, attracting a new fan base, charity works, and providing television broadcasting rights. This essay is going to analyze what the Premier League has done to elevate its profit competitiveness and what it can do to eliminate existing mistakes in terms of marketing strategies. This may enable it to continue to make a profit and enhance its popularity. The paper will take Man United as an example to develop all of the following research. Besides, a case study approach, textual analysis, and comparative analysis will be used in the following research. Hopefully, this paper may be practical for all football clubs to learn from Man United ‘s management strategies, as it can allow them to improve their own business model to gain more profit.

Sports as an Instrument of Foreign Policy Under the Military Rule in Nigeria: 1976-1996

The importance and popularity of sports among the nations of the world is huge. Sports are among the few common denominators for all the nations of the world irrespective of their respective political ideologies and religious inclinations. Through sports, enemies in political and ideological realms can compete between and among each other in an atmosphere of peace. Over the years, world leaders have used sports as an instrument of foreign policy. They do that in both positive and negative ways. Sports are deployed positively when they are used to boost friendship or to support a noble cause and they are used negatively when they are deployed as an instrument of sanctions. This paper shows how sports were used as an instrument of foreign policy in Nigeria by three military regimes of Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha. Olusegun Obasanjo's regime pulled out Nigeria's Olympic contingents from participating in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. Ten years later, the regime of Ibrahim Babangida led other Anglophone countries to boycott the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland; and in 1996 General Sanni Abacha stopped the Super Eagles from defending the title they won in the previous edition of the African Cup of Nations. Details of these boycotts and their political implications are discussed in this paper.

МОВНЕ РІЗНОМАНІТТЯ ФУТБОЛЬНОГО ДИСКУРСУ В УСНОМУ МОВЛЕННІ КОМЕНТАТОРІВ

The article characterizes the linguistic diversity of football discourse in the oral speech of commentators on the video material of the match between the football teams Dynamo and Minaj. The theme of football language in the scientifi c work of Ukrainian scholars is well developed qualitatively, but not quantitatively. However, there are already sig-nifi cant studies at the intersection of discourse studies and diachronic sociolinguistics. Scientists are also actively studying the football vocabulary of the present time.Spoken language is very dynamic and changeable, so the question arises of its normalization, analysis, and identifi cation of specifi c characteristics in various aspects, especially in the lexical linguistic system as the most sensitive, changeable, and open to external trends. The spoken language, like the written language, is diff erentiated by the spheres of use: formal and informal, professional and non-professional (slang).Special attention should be paid to the football discourse, which verbally serves the most popular sport in the world in general and in Ukraine in particular – football. In gen-eral, discourses are characterized by some hierarchy. This type of discourse is thematically focused on a football game and uses all linguistic tools, including terms and slang, for this purpose. A sports commentator acts as an intermediary between players and spectators. The lexemes recorded in the commentator’s oral speech were explained using various sources: currently available dictionaries of sports and football terminology, an explanatory dictionary, a dictionary of slang, and data from sports websites. The author reveals the linguistic phenomenon of delayed slangisms, which has not yet been studied in the scientifi c literature. Their nature in morphemic, lexical and stylistic dimensions is characterized

Taking on the world: the internationalisation of City Football Group

Purpose Football is at once both a global sport and one that is defined by fiercely guarded local boundaries. For a firm operating within this highly lucrative industry and with ambitions of establishing a strong international presence for itself, a balance must be struck between riding on the game’s global appeal on the one hand and the need to somehow embed itself within particular local spaces on the other. This study aims to analyse how one such firm, the holding company City Football Group (CFG), is going about achieving this. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that adopts a broadly inductive approach, building on an extensive analysis of both theoretical research and publicly available secondary data to develop a framework depicting three key strategies associated with CFG’s internationalisation. Findings Three factors are identified as being especially pertinent in CFG’s international expansion: the composition of CFG’s top management team; the attempts to establish a unifying “City identity”; and CFG’s forays into more peripheral leagues around the world after having established itself at the “top end” of the game. Practical implications The framework presented in this paper is particularly oriented towards a practitioner audience. Managers of firms operating in football, as well as in other industries in which the pressure to be both globally integrated and locally responsive is particularly acute, can draw lessons from both the framework and the broader insights presented here on CFG’s global expansion. Social implications Football is widely regarded as the world’s most popular sport, and fans often take matters very seriously when it comes to the club they support. How football clubs are run is, therefore, a matter of considerable societal interest, as demonstrated by various fan protests over the years. As global, multi-club ownership structures like that adopted by CFG become more commonplace, this study will provide football fans with some insight into the strategies of these companies and how their own clubs fit within these ownership models. Originality/value This study addresses an under-researched topic: the international expansion of a prominent football holding company.

The emerging basketball discipline: unpacking game outcomes in the 3 × 3 basketball professional league based on performance indicators and contextual variables

ABSTRACT 3 × 3 basketball has become a popular urban team sport, and there has been a noticeable growth in research focused on this emerging basketball discipline. The aim of this study was to unpack the game outcome based on performance indicators and contextual variables. For this purpose and to achieve an objective evaluation, 13 performance indicators and the quality of opponents were fitted into logistic regression, decision tree, and neural network. Results showcased that the accuracy of the classification of neural networks markedly outperformed others under different game types and the stage of the tournament. Four key performance indicators that significantly impacted all game outcomes under two contextual variables were the percentage of 2-points and 1-points, defensive rebounds and turnovers, and the positive influence of the quality of the opponent on the game outcome was detected in the four sub-datasets. Furthermore, the performance indicators of ball possession and key assists can support classifying winning and losing teams from the games in regular and playoff seasons, respectively, while team fouls and extra free throws can facilitate discrimination of the game outcome in balanced games. This study will serve as a foundational resource to enhance the decision-making processes for participants in 3 × 3 basketball.

Lower back pain in young climbers: a retrospective cross-sectional study.

The popularity of sport climbing has been growing since its inclusion in the Olympic Games program, which led to more people practicing it on recreational, amateur, and professional levels. Strenuous climbing training sessions and competitions might lead to frequent and serious musculoskeletal injuries and complaints among competitive climbers. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and to explore the influence of various risk factors on LBP in adolescent climbers. The sample included 180 competitive climbers (46.6% males) aged 13-19 years competing in under-16 (48.3%) or under-20 categories. Data collection was carried out using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) and the Graded Chronic Pain Scale (GCPS). A total of 74.4% of the entire sample of participants (male = 75%; female = 74%) reported lower back complaints throughout the past twelve months, and only 15.5% during the last seven days. A major part of complaints was classified as low intensity-low disability (Grade I, 62.8%; male = 72.6%; female = 54.2%). Under-20 competitors reported a small but significantly higher percentage of almost all NMQ measures compared to under-16 athletes. This study found a relatively high prevalence of LBP, although complaints were of limited severity and did not affect climbers' regular training practice. Moreover, climbers did not differ in LBP prevalence according to sex, while climbers from the older age group reported higher complaints and seeking medical attention than younger climbers. Future studies should prospectively monitor the influence of climbing on LBP in youth climbers.

Non-dominant leading wrist injuries in Indian professional cricketers

Cricket is a popular sport played worldwide, immensely popular in India, with a high prevalence of wrist and hand injuries varying from 11% to 13%. Among batsmen, the injury rates are higher in the non-dominant leading wrist. These injuries affect the ligaments, bones, triangular fibrocartilage complex, tendons, and neurovascular structures predominantly on the palmar and ulnar aspect of the wrist and occur due to the force vectors transmitted to the wrist during the bat swing. Specific injuries can be explained by the biomechanics of this double grip sport, and its force vector knowledge of these injuries can enable the sports physician to diagnose early and effectively treat the athlete, improving their performance and outcome. The main intent of this article is to review the biomechanics and clinical presentation of the most common injuries in the non-dominant or leading wrist of cricketers.

Common sports injuries and physical treatments

Physiotherapy is a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical application of artificial physical factors and natural physical factors to the human body through the body's neurological, humoral, endocrine, immune and other physiological regulatory mechanisms to achieve the purpose of treatment and rehabilitation. With the widespread popularity and popularity of sports, more people are participating in sports in which injuries become common at different levels of sports from daily recreation to high intensity competitive levels. Physical therapy is considered the first choice for sports people to treat sports injuries and is becoming common and mainstream in the field of sports injury treatment and rehabilitation. Physiotherapy has become critical as a primary treatment or secondary intervention after a sports injury and make sense in the rehabilitation of sports injuries. This article focuses on the physiotherapy treatment of common sports injuries in different sports. Common sports injuries in basketball include ankle sprains, meniscus tears, Achilles tendon ruptures, and patellar tendonitis. Common sports injuries in rugby include groin injuries and shoulder dislocations. Common sports injuries in baseball include ulnar collateral ligament injuries and rotator cuff injuries. Common sports injuries in tennis include epicondylitis of the elbow joint. Common injuries in soccer include medial collateral ligament sprains and calf strains. This article analyzes the anatomical structure of the above-mentioned common injury sites, the physical means of intervention and the different roles of physiotherapy in different sports injuries. The results of the article found that physiotherapy is available for all the sports mentioned above. However, depending on the injury in a sport, physiotherapy has a different proportion of the conventional treatment modalities.

Acute subdural hematoma in a footballer following a head-ball of the ball: a rare neurosurgical complication

Acute subdural hematoma is a frequent complication of high-energy head injuries. Herein, we report an unusual case of this condition that occurred in a young footballer after he head-balled a football. A 37-year-old footballer, during a match, jumped and gave a head shot on the ball. Upon landing, he felt severe headaches forcing him out of the stadium. About 4 h later, he lost consciousness and went into a coma. After resuscitation, he remained clouded, with cephalalgia and had left hemiparesis. The performed brain scan revealed an acute right fronto-parietal subdural hematoma and the patient benefited from craniotomy surgery in our department with simple postoperative suites. The authors, after a brief discussion of the biomechanics of this serious condition, ask all the actors of this very popular sport, to consider the possibility of occurrence of this condition in players.

Aplikasi Teknologi Augmented Reality untuk Media Pembelajaran Olahraga Renang

Swimming is a popular water sport, but the current learning process still relies on traditional printed books. To enhance the learning experience of this sport, this study aims to create and develop learning materials that use augmented reality technology. The research applies the waterfall software engineering method, which includes analysis, system design, implementation, and testing. During the analysis stage, observational data and questionnaires are collected to determine the application's scope. The system design stage includes conceptual design in the form of use cases and physical design in interface design. The design implementation phase is carried out using Unity 3D. The testing phase involves testing the feasibility of media and products using dichotomous scales and black box testing. Our research shows that augmented reality technology can be used as a tool for learning swimming sports. Our tests showed that the product feasibility is 94.7% and media feasibility is 95%. This proves that the application is highly feasible according to media experts and user respondents. The results of black box testing also show that the functionality of the system has been responsive, accurate, compatible, and successful to run all menus and features. Thus, this application can be distributed to be used as a medium for learning swimming sports.

Detecting and Tracking Player in Football Videos Using Two-Stage Mask R-CNN Approach

Football is one of the most popular sports worldwide and capable of attracting the attention of millions of fans to a single match in the top leagues. The English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, and French Ligue 1 are the five best leagues in the world today. There was an experiment where researchers want to analyze the efficiency and accuracy percentage of tracking and detection using the deep learning method of the Mask R-CNN model in classifying positive and negative X-Ray images in football matches. In this study, we applied Mask R-CNN for the segmentation and detection of football players. This model was based on two different backbones, namely ResNet101 and DenseNet. Both backbones produced accuracy values that were not significantly different, but the DenseNet approach performed better than ResNet101 based on testing results in the validation and testing sets. Based on comprehensive experiment results on the dataset, it has been shown that the Mask R-CNN approach with DenseNet can achieve better results compared to Mask R-CNN with ResNet101. Due to insufficient understanding of the characteristics of image types and the uneven distribution of various types of data sourced from random videos, there was still room for improvement in the trained model.