Obscure Sports News for 6/28/21

Here's the latest obscure sports news:

NO MARBLES:  The National Marbles Tournament, one of Wildwood's best-known and oldest annual summer events has been cancelled for the second consecutive year.  The National Marbles Tournament Board of Directors posted a message on their Facebook announcing the decision, due to uncertainty about the course of Covid-19 infections this summer in New Jersey.

TOP FLIGHT IN  THE AUDL:  The Chicago Union (4-0), Atlanta Hustle (4-0) and New York Empire (3-0) are the remaining undefeated teams in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL).  

FIRST BADMINTON PLAYER NAMED TO US OLYMPIC TEAM:  Beiwen Zhang is the first badminton player named to the U.S. Olympic team for Tokyo.  Zhang, 30 and the world’s 14th-ranked player, grew up in China and moved to the U.S. in 2013. She is the first of whom USA Badminton hopes is multiple players on the team.  More invitations could be sent out to nations based on which National Olympic Committees accept spots by June 25. The U.S. had seven badminton players for the 2016 Rio Games — one entry each in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles — with a best finish of tied for ninth. The U.S. has never earned an Olympic medal in badminton, which debuted as a medal sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

MAJOR LEAGUE QUIDDITCH IS BACK IN KANSAS CITY:  The Kansas City Stampede hosted a three-game series against the  League City League to kick off the  2021 season.  The teams are competing for a chance to take home the Benepe Cup, which is the league trophy named after real-life quidditch founder Alex Benepe, at the MLQ Championship in August. Kansas City narrowly trails in the all-time series with five wins and seven losses. League city, which is a quidditch hub based in Houston, has played historically close games with  Kansas City, so it will definitely be a game to watch. The MLQ has an abundance of  COVID guidelines and no teams can participate unless they are fully vaccinated or daily case rates in the county or metropolitan area are below a certain threshold. to kick off the  2021 season.  The teams are competing for a chance to take home the Benepe Cup, which is the league trophy named after real-life quidditch founder Alex Benepe, at the MLQ Championship in August. Kansas City narrowly trails in the all-time series with five wins and seven losses. League city, which is a quidditch hub based in Houston, has played historically close games with  Kansas City, so it will definitely be a game to watch. The MLQ has an abundance of  COVID guidelines and no teams can participate unless they are fully vaccinated or daily case rates in the county or metropolitan area are below a certain threshold.

HORSESHOES WILL BE FLYING:  Winnemucca, Nevada will host the 2021 National Horseshoe Pitching Association (NHPA) World Tournament July 19-31.  The best horseshoe pitchers from around the world will compete in the 13-day tournament period for the biggest horseshoe tournament of the year. 

TEAM USA WATER POLO TEAM ADVANCES TO QUARTERFINALS:  The USA Men's National Team closed out group play at the FINA World League Super Final at 2-1 following a 13-9 win over Georgia over the weekend. Hannes Daube and Max Irving paced the offense with three goals each while Drew Holland went the distance in net recording 11 stops. Team USA now awaits their quarterfinal opponent on Tuesday. 

LA TOPS MAJOR LEAGUE RUGBY:  The Los Angeles Giltinis are the top team in MLR with a record of 11 wins, 2 losses and 0 draws after 13 games.  LA is playing their first season in the league.  LA beat the Seattle Seawolves 29-14 on Sunday.

SPEAKING OF RUGBY:  The new North American Rugby League (NARL) had planned to start their first season with 14 teams in June; however, they have decided to delay their start until 2022 due to increased health and safety needs regarding COVID-19 and insurance and travel costs.