Read the article about basketball. Choose the best word for each space.

Example:

Basketball

Today, Americans watch more basketball (0) ______ television than any other sport. But it is popular in (1) ______ countries too. People often (2) ______ it ‘the international game’ because it is played in almost (3) ______ country of the world. But basketball is not an old sport like football, which people have played for centuries. People have only played basketball (4) ______ 1891.

The idea for basketball came from James Naismith, a Canadian teacher, who wanted his students to learn (5) ______ new kind of sport. Instead (6) ______ the players kicking the ball, (7) ______ they do in football, in Naismith’s new game, players threw or bounced the ball. Then, they had to get (8) ______ into a big bag or ‘basket’. The name that Naismith chose for this new sport was ‘basketball’.