1. An image recognition apparatus for recognizing movements of players matched against each other between domains partitioned with such an obstacle as net in a sport match or game from contents including a television program being telecasted to show the sport match or game, an image material in an uncompleted state for broadcasting and contents recorded in such a recording medium as a VTR, the image recognition apparatus comprising: a picture information obtaining section configured to obtain picture information containing an image of a movement of at least one of the players playing in the sport match or game from the contents; a sound information obtaining section configured to obtain sound information generated in synchronism with the picture information from the contents, the sound information including information on a hitting sound generated upon hitting of such an instrument as a ball moving between the domains to serve as an object of score count in the sport match or game; a hitting time information specifying section configured to specify a hitting time at which the instrument is hit based on the sound information obtained by the sound information obtaining section; a rule information storage section configured to store rule information for carrying out the sport match or game; and an image substance recognizing section configured to recognize a substance of an image containing the image of the movement of the player provided by the picture information based on the picture information obtained by the picture information obtaining section, a position of the instrument at the hitting time specified by the hitting time specifying section and the rule information stored in the rule information storage section.