Traditional Sports and Games

Traditional Sports and Games (TSG) are physical activities which were played for centuries by people around the world before the advent of modern sports. Many TSG's lost popularity or died off during the colonial era due to the imposition and spread of Western sports. Further decline has occurred in the post-colonial era.

UNESCO promotes TSG as a form of "Intangible Cultural Heritage", and has a dedicated TSG Advisory Committee. Four Collective Consultation Meetings have been held so far by UNESCO, with the fourth Collective Consultation in 2018 gathering more than 82 participants from 40 countries. UNESCO played a pivotal role in founding the International Council of Traditional Sports and Games (ICTSG) in 2018. Khalil Ahmed Khan was appointed as the president, and Shammi Rana assumed the position of Secretary General, with the 14th of August being declared the International Day of Traditional Sports and Games.

TSG has been linked to the way in which various peoples followed religious duties and promoted social cooperation along with a better understanding of their relationship to nature;   TSG is also seen as a possible way to increase intercultural dialogue.

History
During the colonial era, resistance to and influence from Western sports resulted in the standardisation and introduction of organised competition for several traditional South Asian games such as kabaddi.

From the 18th century onwards, researchers have taken a greater interest in the value of traditional games in elucidating cultural values and identities. The modern Olympic Games were influenced by this thinking, and were founded by Pierre de Coubertin on the basis of "All games, all nations", though this aspect of the Olympics was never fully realised and quickly faded away after a few years, with mainly only Western sports being played. In some European countries, the revival of traditional games has served as a way for regional identities to be expressed in a political or educational way.

From the 1970's onwards, global attention and institutionalization has taken place to preserve TSG.

TSG has been increasingly accepted into international multi-sport events such as the Asian Games and SEA Games.