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Soccer is the most popular sport in Chad. Chadians
avidly follow their national team's performance against other African
nations and in World Cup games. Children play soccer whenever they get
the chance. Many Chadian soccer players have played for French teams.
Nambatingue Tokomon, known as "Toko," played for renowned French soccer
clubs, including Paris St. Germain, in the 1970s and 1980s. Abdoulay
Karateka also played for Paris St. Germain. Ndoram Japhet played for
Nantes and Monaco in the 1990s. Basketball is widely played in the cities. Many Chadians have excelled as runners and high jumpers. Idriss Mahamat Ouya, a Chadian athlete, made his mark internationally as a high jumper. Today a large sports stadium in N'Djamena is named after him. Boxing and martial arts are increasingly popular in the cities. Some Chadians living near Lake Chad and the rivers Logone and Chari enjoy spending their spare time fishing. |
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Chadians throughout the country enjoy freestyle
wrestling. Matches often take place when two groups meet to water their
cattle. Participants from the two groups pair off according to age.
Combatants traditionally dress in animal hides and cover themselves
in dust before attempting to pin each other down. Among the Sara Kaba
tribe of southern Chad, this type of wrestling is known as
mbilé. Children in Chad often build their own toys or play with everyday objects. They like to push wheels and tires around, often using sticks. Hide-and-seek is popular, and village boys sometimes carry slingshots, which they use to hunt small birds, such as guinea fowl. Girls play tap tap, a game much like hopscotch. Many people enjoy playing checkers or a board game played with seeds or small stones known as sidjé in Arabic or agra in Gorane. |
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Chadians enjoy visiting each other's families. These
visits are occasions for drinking tea. In the north, green tea from Libya
is popular, while in the south, red tea from Cameroon is common.
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