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===Sports===
[[Image:LocomotiveStadium2.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Tbilisi's Locomotive Stadium]]
Tbilisi has a fairly rich sports history. Like many other towns of the [[Near East]] with strong Asian cultural influences, Tbilisi historically had a special area of town that was designated for sports competitions. The present-day districts of [[Saburtalo]] and [[Didube]] were the most common areas where such competitions were held. Up until the beginning of the 19th century, sports such as horse-riding ([[polo]] in particular), [[wrestling]], [[boxing]], and [[marksmanship]] were the most popular city sports. As Tbilisi started to develop socially and economically and integrate more with the West, new sports from Europe were introduced. The [[Soviet]] period brought an increased popularization of sports that were common in [[Europe]] and to a certain extent, the [[United States]]. At the same time, Tbilisi developed the necessary sports infrastructure for various professional sports. By 1978, the city had around 250 large and small sports facilities, including among others, four indoor and six outdoor Olympic sized pools, 185 [[basketball]] courts and halls, 192 [[volleyball]] facilities, 82 [[team_handball|handball]] arenas, 19 [[tennis]] courts, 31 [[football (soccer)]] fields, and five stadiums. At present, the largest stadium in Tbilisi is the [[Boris Paichadze Stadium]] (75,000 seats) and the second largest is the [[Locomotive Stadium]] (approximately 30,000 seats). The Sports Palace which usually hosts basketball and tennis tournaments seats approximately 11,000 people.
The most popular sports in Tbilisi today are [[football (soccer)|football]], [[rugby]], [[basketball]], and [[wrestling]]. There are several professional football and rugby teams as well as wrestling clubs. [[NBA]] players [[Zaza Pachulia]] and [[Nikoloz Tskitishvili]] are Tbilisi natives. Outside of professional sports, the city has a number of inter-collegiate and amateur sports teams and clubs.
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