Bandy
Bandy is a winter sport, where a ball
is hit with a stick. It is an ancestor of ice hockey. It likely descended from
shinty and in turn field hockey.
Bandy is played outdoors on a sheet of ice, and has rules that are similar to soccer.
It is now played in a few nations, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, the USA, Belarus, Hungary, The Netherlands, Estonia,
Canada and Russia.
Bandy was the demonstration sport at the VI Olympic
Winter Games in 1952 (Oslo, Norway). World Championships are held every year. There were 11 countries participiating in
2004 championships: Finland, Russia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Norway, Canada,
USA, Netherlands,
Hungary, Estonia and Belarus. Finland won the 2004 championship. All the previous championships were won either by the Soviet Union/Russia or Sweden.
The size of a bandy field is in the range 4,050 - 7,150 square metres (45-65 by 90-100 metres). The size of the ball is 60-65 mm and is red
to orange in color.
FIB, the Federation for International Bandy, has 15 members (2004).
External links
National Bandy Federations
Bandy is also a Scottish word meaning "bow-legged", but is widely used elsewhere.
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