Oină () is a Romanian traditional sport, similar in many ways to baseball. History The name "oină" was originally "hoina", and is derived from the Cuman word oyn "game" (a cognate of Turkish oyun). The oldest direct mention comes from a diet manual of 1782 by medic István Mátyus, who talks about the health benefits of oina. However, it may have been attested as early as in 1364. In 1899, Spiru Haret, the minister of education decided that oină was to be played in schools in physical education classes. He organized the first annual oină competitions. The Romanian Oină Federation ("Federaţia Română de Oină") was founded in 1932, and was reactivated at the beginning of the 1950s, after a brief period when it was dissolved. Today, there are two oină federations: one in Bucharest, Romania and another one in Chișinău, Moldova. In recent years the Romanian oină Federation has launched a wide campaign to revive this kind of sport. Most of the traditional centres have been restored, and new areas have also been incorporated, so oină is practised in more than 40 regions at the moment. In addition to spreading oină in the regions of Romania, the Romanian oină Federation actively popularizes this game outside the country organizing demonstration tournaments in different countries (Serbia, Japan, Indonesia, England, Poland, Germany, India, Pakistan, Croatia, Ukraine). For internationalization, the Federation establishes partnerships with institutions outside the country (as it was in Ukraine, India, Pakistan, England) or with people who want to help popularize this kind of sport. In cooperation with these people and institutions, the FRO creates study guides and handbooks on oină in various foreign languages. Pitch The pitch is a rectangle, long by wide divided into: the in game ("în joc") area, which is the batting zone ("zona de bătaie") – long – delimited from the in game area by the batting line the back zone ("zona de fund") – a long safe zone during a run – delimited from the in game area by the back line The attacking side player that has commenced a run will have to cross the following four lines in order: the start line (the left side of the batting line) the arrival line (the left side of the back line) the return line (the right side of the back line) the escape line (the right side of the batting line) The in game area