This list covers 30 sports, ranging alphabetically from “Padel” to “Professional Wrestling”. These activities span racket and paddle games, combat sports, water and air pursuits, and team games played on foot or on horseback. People take them up for competition, fitness, recreation, or simply for the spectacle.
Sports are organized physical activities governed by rules, often testing skill, strategy, or endurance, and played alone or in teams. Many carry a rich history: pankration was contested in the ancient Olympic Games nearly 2,700 years ago, while pato became Argentina’s official national sport by government decree in 1953.
Below you’ll find the table with each sport’s name and a brief description.
Sport: the name of each activity, listed alphabetically from “Padel” to “Professional Wrestling”, so you can quickly scan or search for one you know.
Description: a short explanation of how each sport is played, what equipment it uses, and what makes it distinct, helping you understand it at a glance.
Sports
| Sport |
|---|
| Padel |
| Paintball |
| Pankration |
| Parachuting |
| Paragliding |
| Parasailing |
| Parkour |
| Pato |
| Pelota Vasca |
| Pentathlon |
| Pesäpallo |
| Pétanque |
| Pickleball |
| Pigeon Racing |
| Ping Pong |
| Pole Vault |
| Polo |
| Polocrosse |
| Pool |
| Powerboat Racing |
| Powerlifting |
| Punting |
| Pushball |
| Paddleboarding |
| Paddle Tennis |
| Paraclimbing |
| Paramotoring |
| Pistol Shooting |
| Powerchair Football |
| Professional Wrestling |
Descriptions
Padel
A racket sport played in doubles on an enclosed court, blending tennis and squash with solid paddles and a bouncy ball off the walls.
Paintball
Players eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules of paint fired from compressed-air markers, often played as team-based tactical games.
Pankration
An ancient Greek combat sport combining boxing and wrestling with very few rules, once featured in the ancient Olympic Games.
Parachuting
A sport involving jumping from an aircraft and performing freefall maneuvers before deploying a parachute, judged on skill, accuracy, or style.
Paragliding
A gliding sport where pilots fly a lightweight, foot-launched fabric wing, using rising air currents to stay aloft for long distances.
Parasailing
A recreational activity where a person is towed behind a boat while attached to a parachute-like canopy, gliding through the air.
Parkour
A discipline of moving efficiently through urban or natural environments by running, jumping, climbing, and vaulting over obstacles.
Pato
Argentina’s national sport, a mounted game blending polo and basketball where riders pass a six-handled ball to score through a hoop.
Pelota Vasca
A Basque ball sport family played against a wall with bare hands, wooden bats, or curved baskets called cestas.
Pentathlon
A modern Olympic event combining fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping, and a combined pistol shooting and cross-country run.
Pesäpallo
Finland’s national sport, a bat-and-ball game resembling baseball but with vertical pitching and a zigzag base-running path.
Pétanque
A French bowls game where players toss metal balls as close as possible to a small target ball called the jack.
Pickleball
A fast-growing paddle sport played on a badminton-sized court with a perforated plastic ball and a low net.
Pigeon Racing
A competitive sport where specially trained homing pigeons are released far from home and timed on their flight back to their lofts.
Ping Pong
A common name for table tennis, a fast indoor racket sport played on a table divided by a low net.
Pole Vault
A track and field event in which athletes use a long flexible pole to launch themselves over a raised horizontal bar.
Polo
A team sport played on horseback where riders use long mallets to hit a ball into the opposing team’s goal.
Polocrosse
A hybrid sport combining polo and lacrosse, played on horseback with a racquet used to carry and pass a rubber ball.
Pool
A cue sport played on a table with pockets, where players use a cue stick to sink numbered or colored balls.
Powerboat Racing
A motorsport in which high-speed boats race one another on water courses, often reaching speeds well over 100 mph.
Powerlifting
A strength sport testing maximal effort in three lifts: the squat, bench press, and deadlift, with the highest total winning.
Punting
A traditional boat sport where a flat-bottomed boat is propelled through shallow water using a long pole pushed against the riverbed.
Pushball
An old team sport in which players use their bodies to push a giant inflatable ball across the opposing team’s goal line.
Paddleboarding
A water sport where participants stand or kneel on a buoyant board and propel themselves with a long paddle.
Paddle Tennis
A racket sport similar to tennis but played on a smaller court with solid paddles instead of strung rackets.
Paraclimbing
A form of competitive rock climbing adapted for athletes with physical disabilities or visual impairments.
Paramotoring
A form of powered paragliding where pilots wear a motor and propeller on their back to achieve sustained, controlled flight.
Pistol Shooting
A precision shooting sport in which competitors fire handguns at fixed targets from set distances for accuracy and speed.
Powerchair Football
An adapted form of soccer played by athletes using powered wheelchairs fitted with guards to strike a large ball.
Professional Wrestling
A scripted combat sport-entertainment hybrid combining athletic wrestling moves, storytelling, and theatrical showmanship.