This story appears in the Sept. 19, 2011 issue of ESPN The Magazine. There aren't a lot of bats, balls or rackets in northern Afghanistan. There are goats, horses, men and dusty plains, and they have ...

SHEBERGHAN, Afghanistan -- Abdul Rauf Amini, a horseman and breeder in northern Afghanistan, is the keeper of an ancient tradition. He grooms horses to ride and compete in buzkashi, Afghanistan’s ...

The announcer roared over the public address system as a lone rider separated from a melee of horses and galloped towards a chalk circle drawn in the middle of a muddy field in the Afghan capital.

Played with the carcass of a goat, buzkashi is believed to have originated in central Asia, reputedly around the time of 13th century emperor Genghis Khan. With their whips cracking neighing horses, ...

Two teams of buzkashi riders vie for victory in the finals of the rough-and-tumble Afghan sport – Copyright AFP Atif ARYAN Afghan rider Sarwar Pahlawan blinked away ...

PANJSHIR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A crash of horses and men deep in a mountain pass signals the start of another game of buzkashi, Afghanistan's national sport. Buzkashi, which translates roughly as ...

Sport is a powerful universal language. There are few things so able to unite and inspire people from all backgrounds across the world. In poorer regions, the rewards for success and the route out of ...

KABUL, Afghanistan — Through the dust kicked up by the pounding hooves of a scrum of horses and riders, a winner emerges. The victorious team gallops around the playing field, holding a flag aloft.

Riders from the Sar-e-Pul and Badakhshan compete in the final of Afghanistan's annual buzkashi tournament, a traditional equestrian sport in which riders score points using a fake goat carcass, on the ...

Buzkashi has been played in Central Asia for centuries – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Anna Moneymaker, WIN MCNAMEE Haji Mohammad Pahlawan waves his ...

Tajik rider Malika Rajabova is used to being the only woman on the field when she plays buzkashi, a Central Asian sport in which competitors on horseback fight to grab a goat carcass. She says some ...

Afghan horsemen play in the grand final of the buzkashi championships. Buzkashi, meaning "dragging the goat" in Persian, is the country's traditional national sport, in which teams of horsemen fight ...