A childhood pastime of tossing mangoes to one another in the Amazon has transformed into a proper sport in Brazil, even finding a place among the vaunted beach games played in Rio de Janeiro.
On the hot, golden sands of Copacabana, players simultaneously toss two mango-shaped balls across a net in a fast, fun and tiring test of their reflexes.
Dubbed “manbol” — a mash-up of the words for mango and ball — the new game is slowly spreading across Rio’s beaches, where sports-loving Brazilians indulge in activities like footvolley, beach tennis and volleyball.
Photo: AFP
It is the brainchild of Rui Hildebrando, based on a game he and his younger brother used to play as children in the Amazonian city Belem do Para.
“At first, it was a simple game between us: My brother Rogerio would throw a mango at me and I would throw it back, but after a while, I thought it would be more fun to each throw a mango at the same time,” 44-year-old Rui Hildebrando said.
After it caught on among youngsters in town, Hildebrando came up with official rules for the game and in 2004 formed the Brazilian Manbol Confederation.
The game is played with mango-shaped polyurethane balls, about three times smaller than a rugby ball, on a rectangular court on any surface.
The rules are simple: You win a point if the ball passes over the net and lands on the ground on your rival’s side — as long as you also catch the other ball thrown to your side. If both balls fall, the point is replayed.
To win, a team must win two sets of 12 points. Each game can be played with up to three players, with a match lasting 15 to 25 minutes.
“It’s a very dynamic sport, and the fact that there are two balls makes it very fun. It’s tiring but it’s a matter of practice,” said Adriana Mathias, 46, a physical education teacher who has been playing since 2007.
After two decades, manbol is making inroads in Brazil, with about 2,000 players in a nation of more than 200 million people. There are regional federations in Rio de Janeiro, the capital, Brasilia, northeastern Ceara and northern Para.
The city of Belem even declared manbol an official “sporting discipline” in 2016.
Hildebrando said that there have been demonstrations of the game in 11 other countries in South America, Europe and Asia.
In June last year, a game was played for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
“It is an inclusive sport, which can be played by people of any age or social class. Manbol has everything it takes to grow,” said Katia Lessa, president of the Rio Manbol federation.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free
RSS