The golden jug game

ARCHERY
Archery was another popular and important Turkish sport. After taking the city, Mehmed the Conqueror allocated a special field for the sport in Istanbul with a lodge or club for the archers. No trace of the lodge building remains today on the field, still known as the 'Ok Meydanı'. There were two types of archery. One was target shooting, the target being known as a 'tabla' or 'puta'. The second was distance shooting, known as 'koşu'. The distance covered by the arrow was the 'menzil'. When a record was broken, a stone, also called a 'menzil', was erected at the spot where the arrow fell. The archers lined up at another stone called the 'ayak taşı,' or 'foot stone'.

JEREED
Jereed is a very ancient Turkish sport which was played on horseback between the Cabbages and the Okras as described earlier. Just like today's sports teams, they wore uniforms of different colors, the Cabbages green, the Okras red. While horse polo was the more popular, the game was also played on foot. Players hurled their sticks and tried to strike their opponent. Sometimes the jereed stick was heaved with such force that a player was wounded or even killed. Every hit earned the player  a point. The stick was not allowed to touch the horse, and if it did the player was disqualified.

YESTERDAY'S POLO, ÇEVGAN
This game, played on horseback and known to the Turks since long ago, originated in Asia and is still played today in India and Central Asia. During the Crusades it was brought from the East to Europe, where it became known as polo.
A 'çevgan' is a thick stick curved at one end. From his moving horse the player tries to strike a ball about 10-15 cm in diameter, called a 'gûy’. The purpose of the game, whose exact name is 'gûy’ u çevgan', is to hit the ball into a goal 5-6 meters wide marked off by a pair of stones. As one player brings the ball forward with his stick, his opponent tries to send it in the oppositedirection. Çevgan is no longer played in Turkey today.  

But a variety of games played with balls and sticks are still popular with children in rural areas of Anatolia.

TOMAK, A TEAM SPORT
Tomak is a team sport, similar to jereed but played with a different sort of stick called a 'tomak'. Made of oak filled with long strips of braided felt, the tomak, which resembles a whip, has a long handle and flat striking surface. Tomak was played mainly among members of the palace while the sultan looked on as a spectator. Each team had sixty members who tried to strike their foes on the back with their tomak. One needed to be extremely agile to dodge the blows. A similar game called 'tura' is played today with a handkerchief knotted at one end.

LIKE DANCING:
THE GAME OF MATRAK
The game of 'matrak' is played between two players who move with graceful steps rather like dancing. It is similar to the modern game of fencing but instead of a sword and shield the player holds a wooden stick in his right hand and a round pillow in his left. It is believed to have originated in Europe as an ancient form of dance. A game of matrak is depicted in a miniature dating from a festival held in 1582.
 

Another miniature in the same manuscript shows a game played with a real sword and wounded players collapsing to the ground. Another variety of matrak is played using two swords and no shield. These were of course not the only traditional Turkish sports, each of which is rich subject worthy of an article in its own right. Wrestling and hunting, for example, were also popular with the Turks. Wrestling survives, and Turkish

Miniature of wrestlers

wrestlers have earned world fame over the centuries, winning frequent gold medals in international competitions. The traditional greased wrestling contests held annually at Klrkpmar awaken interest not just in Turkey but throughout the world. Hunting was the exclusive sport of sultans. Rifle shooting and shinnying up a greased pole for a silver jug at the top were also popular sports among Turks of old.