Oina is a Romanian sport, similar in some ways to the American baseball.

History

It was first time mentioned during the rule of Vlaicu Vodă in 1364, when it was spread all across Wallachia and it used to be a game of the shepherds.

At the first edition of the Olympics (1896), Romania offered to send two Oina teams, but it was turned down by the Olympic Committee, because "oina is not played in other countries".

In 1899, Spiru Haret, the minister of education decided that oina to be played in schools in the Physical education and organized the first annual oina competitions.

Nowadays, there are two Oina Federation: one in Bucharest, Romania and another one in Chişinău, Moldova.

Rules

There are two teams, one "at bat" ("la bătaie") and one "at catching" ("la prindere").

The game begins with the team "at bat", with one of the players throwing the ball while another player of the same team has to hit it with a wooden bat ("bâtă") and send it as far as he can towards the adversary field. After that, the player has to run on the "culoarele de ducere şi întoarcere" that are to be found in the adversary field before the adversary receives the ball from his co-players.

Comparison with baseball

• Same weight of the ball: around 140 grams for both
• Longer and slimmer bat for Oina
• A game takes only 30 minutes for Oina
• Oina teams have 11 players; Baseball teams have 9 players

External link

• Romanian Federation of Oina (in Romanian)