B. Read the passage carefully, decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F), then answer the questions.

Underwater hockey is a non-contact sport in which two teams compete to maneuver a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into goals.

Players wear a diving mask, fins, speedos and a snorkel for play. Safety gear includes a water polo style cap, a mouthguard, and a glove for the playing hand (to protect against pool-bottom abrasion and, in some designs, knuckle protection against puck impact).

Because current rules permit a player to switch the stick between hands mid-play, players may choose to wear a protective glove on both hands. The stick is quite short (not more than 350 mm in length, including the handle) and is colored white or black to indicate the player‘s team.

Two teams of up to ten players compete, with six players on each team in play at once.

Substitution happens continually from a substitution area, which may be on deck or in the water outside the playing area, depending on tournament rules. Before the start of play the puck is placed in the middle of the pool, and the players wait in the water, touching the wall above the goals they are defending. At the start-of-play signal, in-play members of both teams are free to swim anywhere in the play area and try to score by sending the puck into the opponents‘ goal. Play continues until either a goal is scored, and players return to their wall to start a new point, or a break in play is signaled by a referee.

In competition, games consist of two fifteen minute halves, and a short half time interval. At half time the two teams switch ends.

__________ 1900 water polo has been in the program of the Olympic Games.