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Top 10 Most Dangerous Sports in the World

10. RUGBY:

Possibly the most brutal contact sport on the planet. It is hardly surprising that rugby has more injuries (=physical harm) per player than any other participation sport. In fact, they are three times more likely (=something that is expected to happen) to get injured than someone in martial arts. Torn muscles, concussion (=temporary damage to the brain caused by a fall or hit on the head or by violent shaking), broken bones - these boys don’t stop unless they can’t physically continue!

9. CAVE DIVING:

Diving at depths (=the distance down from the top)of 300 metres in a pitch-black (=extremely dark) cave makes it incredibly easy to lose your bearings (=position; knowing where you are), have problems with your air supply - or even be eaten by some big, vicious creature. According to the Texas-based 'San Marcos Area Recovery Team', more than 500 people have died since 1960 while cave diving in Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean alone.

8. CHEERLEADING :

In the US alone, there were more than 20,000 reported injuries last year alone, making cheerleading the world’s most injury-prone (=tendency; a likelihood to behave in a particular way or to like a particular thing)sport in the world for women. In fact, the girls on the sidelines are more at risk of hurting themselves than the guys on the football field. Broken legs and spinal injuries are not uncommon.

7. MOTORCYCLING:

The most dangerous motor race in the world is, without doubt, the Isle of Man TT event. In its 100-year history, this one race has seen more than 220 deaths.

6. FISHING:

This quiet pastime has one of the highest mortality rates of any sport due to the number of people who drown (=die by being unable to breathe under water) every year. Rock fishing - which involves casting a line into the ocean from the shoreline - is also notoriously dangerous, with people often losing their lives when they are dragged under by huge unexpected waves. In Australia alone, 15 people died while rock fishing last year.

5. ROCK CLIMBING:

According to 'Accidents In North American Mountaineering', last year saw 24 deaths in the US due to rock climbing mishaps (=bad luck, or an unlucky event or accident). As well as getting up, you have to be able to get back down, which is what makes this such a dangerous sport. It is not too easy to get medical help when you’re 3,000 metres up and there is nowhere to land a helicopter. Bad weather can be extremely dangerous, quickly causing frostbite (=injury to someone caused by severe cold, usually to their toes, fingers, ears or nose)or hypothermia (=a person's body temperature falls below the usual level). In the insurance world, rock climbing is classed as a 'Category 5' sport. The only things more dangerous are 'Category 6' sports, which include naked knife fighting and blind archery.

4. GOLF:

Golf is right up there in the death chances! Some figures suggest more than 4,000 of us take our last breath on the fairway (=the area of short grass between the place where you first hit the ball and the place where the ball should enter a hole) every year. It is also a killing field when it comes to bad weather, with five per cent of all lightning-related deaths taking place on the golf course.

3. HORSE RIDING:

A recent survey on the number of fatalities per 100,000 participants in the US put riding a horse - including racing and show jumping - at the top of the list with a whopping (=something that is surprising because it is so much bigger than the usual size)128! Compare this number to boxing, which has just 1.3 deaths per 100,000!

2. BASE JUMPING:

Dangerous for the simple fact that it is all or nothing - if your parachute opens you will be fine, if it doesn’t you are looking at certain death. A study has revealed that since the first base jump around 30 years ago, 175 people have been killed.

1. LAWN BOWLS:

It is the world’s most dangerous sport, killing literally thousands worldwide every year! It's hardcore (=a small group of people within a larger group, who strongly believe in the group's principles and usually have a lot of power in it) competitors who will stop at nothing in search of victory. If you are one of the lucky ones that escapes death, there are thousands more who end up with dislocated ankles, broken hips, torn knees or who simply keel over with a heart attack or a stroke (=a sudden change in the blood supply to a part of the brain, which can cause a loss of the ability to move particular parts of the body) due to the incredibly stressful nature of the game.

Other Most Dangerous Sports

Rafting
Cyclocross
Surfing
Bull riding
Heliskiing