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Picigin is traditional water sport that originated and is played in Split, Croatia. The objective of the sport, that is played with a small ball, is to prevent the ball from touching the surface of the water. The sport is only played at an amateur level, with teams consisting of players of all ages and both genders.

The sport is mostly played on beaches with shallow water. The ball used is actually a tennis ball with its skin peeled off and smoothened down by a few millimeters.

A game is played between two teams with five players per team. Two players take a fixed position called sidruni from which they should not move. The other three are runners, called (trkači), who are free to move around.

The sport is mostly played at a recreational level, where there is no scoring or any official rules. There are also a few competitive picigin events, where players commonly exhibit extraordinary leaps and acrobatic maneuvers. In competitions, scoring is not based on points for the ball touching the water like it is common in many other sports, but is rather judged based on execution of jumps and artistic impression by all players in the team.

The Picigin World Championship is the only major tournament conducted for the sport.

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Similar Sports

• Kemari — Japanese traditional sport with the aim to keep one ball in the air.
• Jianzi — a traditional Chinese national sport, where players aim to keep a shuttlecock-type object (called a Jianzi) in the air by striking it predominantly with the legs.
• Freestyle Footbag — performing various tricks with a footbag.
• Basse — a bag ball game from Norway in which the ball is kept from landing in the player's area, using any part of the body except the hands.

Related Pages

• About Sport in Croatia
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports