Five sporting legends you might never have heard of

Boxer Samart Payakaroon (right). Photo / AP

As we obsess about whether the Bledisloe Cup will reside in its spiritual home of Wellington this year, we can forget that sport is a broad church. Ask a local in Bangkok, for example, what they think of Richie McCaw and you're likely to get a quizzical stare. Ask that same person about Samart Payakaroon and the reaction is likely to be totally different.

Here are five legends of sport, some you might never have heard of.

Christy Ring
Making his debut for Cork in 1939 as a 19-year-old, Ring would go on to play hurling for his county for the next 24 years, winning eight All-Ireland Medals. His club, Glen Rovers, won 13 championships. The unprepossessing truck driver was universally recognised as one of the legends of Ireland's national sport and 60,000 people turned up to his funeral after he died of a heart attack aged just 58.

Rakesh Kumar

The 33-year-old Indian is recognised as the best raider in the ancient south Asian sport of kabbadi. The sport involves a raider foraying into the enemy camp to touch rival defenders while they try to prevent him from returning to his court. This they do by holding him in a melee of bodies known as a struggle. A good raider will ensure he touches rival defenders and reaches the touch line to score.

Snooker player Efren Reyes. Photo / AP

Efren Reyes

The 61-year-old Filipino is generally considered the greatest pool player of all time, having more than 70 international titles to his name. Reyes started off in the 60s as a teenage pool hall hustler and part of the Reyes legend is that when he went to the US he started making $80,000 a week by gambling on himself. When pool started becoming more mainstream, Reyes just kept on winning.

Nicole Williams
AKA Bonnie Thunders, Williams is one of the greatest jammers in roller derby history. From a synchronised skating background, she has overcome a lack of size with fierce determination. She is a former MVP of the US roller derby league and has been a two-time winner of the Roller Derby World Cup for Team USA.

Samart Payakaroon
Thought by many to be the greatest exponent of Muay Thai in history. Samart had lightning quick hands and genuine power, which he used to great effect when he crossed over to boxing and, as a southpaw, won a WBC junior featherweight title in 1986 with a surprise KO over Lupe Pintor. He was finally beaten by Jeff Fenech and ended with a 21-2 record. He was ubiquitous in Thailand, releasing three albums and appearing in several films, including The Bodyguard.