THE DAVIS CUP
The Davis Cup was the first edition of World Cup among all sports which is held at Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900. United States defeated Great Britain by 3-0 to won the Davis Cup. The Davis Cup is organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The Davis Cup was known to be International Lawn Tennis Challenge before 1945. But after Dwight Davis’ trophy it is known as the Davis Cup.
It is contended between players of different teams in a knock-out format from competing countries. The contest began in 1900 as a challenge between the United States and Great Britain. In the year 2005, resounding 134 countries entered teams into the contest. Over the history of the tournament the most successful countries are the United States. They won winning 32 tournaments and ending as runners-up 29 times. The next best team is Australia, won 28 times, including four times with New Zealand under the name ‘Australasia’ and ending as runners-up 19 times.
The world’s 16 best national teams are allowed to the World Group and contend every year for the Davis Cup. Each elimination round between competing nations is held in one of the states. The ITF chooses the host nations for men’s tennis for all matches before each year’s competition.
The FIFA WORLD CUP
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called as Football World Cup was started in Uruguay, 1930. Its a very popular game in the whole world. Only in 1942 and 1946 this tournament was not held because of World War 2. The Championship format involves 32 teams contending for the trophy at venues within the host nation. The World Cup Qualifiers takes place over the preceding three years to determine the teams which will play the tournament. Brazil is the only team to have played in every tournament and won the World Cup trophy a record five times. Italy is the current winners and have won the tournament four times while Germany has won thrice. Uruguay and Argentina won twice each and England and France won one title each.
Due to the success of football at the Olympics, President Jules Rimet of FIFA started thinking of a tournament outside of the Olympics. FIFA nominated Uruguay as the host country of the first World Cup Tournament.
The Women’s World Cup Soccer was first held in the People’s Republic of China in 1991. Nowadays women’s football has got more limelight than previous. The FIFA World Cup was first telecasted in 1954 and is now the most followed, viewed sporting event in the world.
Another tournament which is most popular in the world is Cricket World Cup, started in England, 1975. The tournament mainly consists of few preliminary matches, two semi-finals and one final. The matches were consisted of 60 over per team, played during the daytime, with players wearing white cricket gears and using red ball. The 1975 world cup was known as Prudential World Cup. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has organized the tournament first time in 1999.
CRICKET WORLD CUP
The cricket match between Canada and United States was the first ever international match held on 24 and 25 September 1844. But the actual World Championship consist of several nations was started in 1975. The 1987 World Cup was held in India and Pakistan, first time outside England. The next World Cup i.e. 1992 World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand, featuring colored clothing, day/night matches, white balls and modification to the fielding restrictions.
THE HOCKEY WORLD CUP
The Hockey World Cup was started in 1971 and it is organized by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Pakistan is the most successful team, who have won the tournament four times. The Netherlands have won three times, Germany and Australia each have won two titles and India won the championship once. This year the world cup was held at Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi in India from February 28 to March 13. Australia beat Germany 2-1 in the final, to win their second title of World Cup.
Nur Khan, Pakistan’s Air Marshal was first to proposed his idea to the FIH through the first editor of World Hockey magazine, Patrick Rowley. The idea was sanctioned on October 26, 1969. Due to some political issues the first hockey world cup was move to the Real Club de Polo grounds in Barcelona, Spain. Before the World Cup matches there is a qualification stage, where many countries participate to get a birth on the big championship. The teams are then divided into few pools and they play a round robin tournament. The pool composition is decided using the current world rankings of the nations. The top two teams from each pool qualifies for the semifinals and the winners of the semifinal matches plays in the final. The bottom two teams in the semis plays together for the third place.
THE RUGBY WORLD CUP
The Rugby World Cup is organized by International Rugby Board (IRB), the sport’s governing body. It was started in Australia & New Zealand in 1987.
The World Cup of Golf started way back in 1953 which was then called the Canada Cup. The Baseball World Cup is started in England, 1938. The Olympic Games are a major international event participated by thousands of athletes in a variety of competitions. It was started in 1896 at Athens, Greece.
