Sports

2004-03-01 18:00

Tradtional Sports Tibet's traditional sports are the product of the region's particular natural environment and the people's customs. Sporting events and entertainments, some competitions, some performances, were connected with the seasons and festivals of the Tibetan calendar.

Today some of these traditional sports have been standardized and included in modern competitive sports. Principal traditional sports include the following.

-Horse Racing, Horse races are held every year in the northern grasslands and in some other farming and herding areas. The ordinarily dressed participants, mainly young people and adults, race bareback over a ten-kilometre course.

-Horsemanship Skills on horseback are celebrated here, such as mounted marksmanship or snatching a hada silk ceremonial scarf from the ground at full gallop The participants dress in fancy clothing from an earlier era including big red hats and ride gaily decorated horses festooned with copper bells.

-Polo. This ancient sport, wherein riders manoeuvre a ball around a course with the aid of a mallet, can trace its history to at least the early eighth century when the Tang Dynasty Zhongzong Emperor commanded his palace polo team to join in a competition with a squad accompanying Tibetan envoys to Chang-an. the Tang capital.

-Archery, This sport, derived from ancient hunting and military practices, is today most popular in the Mainling, Medog and Zayu area of southeastern Tibet One Tibetan form of the art is somewhat unusual The archer shoots an arrow, its clubbed arrowhead pierced with wind channels, high in the air. The air rushing through the channels creates a high-pitched sound, the so-called "whistling arrow."

-Wrestling. Two combatants dressed in robes secured with broad belts grasp each other about the waist, each seeking to throw the other to the ground. The feet may not be used, only the hands and the strength of the upper body.

-Two-man Tug-of-war. In this version of tug-of-war two ends of a rope are tied together to form a great loop. Each of the two competitors harnesses himself to the rope, passing it between his legs and up over his shoulder, then, facing in opposite directions, the two struggle forward on their hands and knees, each trying to pull his adversary over a centre line.

-Yak Races. Yak races are a special favourite of the Tibetans. Every year during the eighth month comes the Onghor Festival. The people dress in their best finery and sing and dance to celebrate the harvest. And, not incidentally, they match their skills in yak racing. The yaks' massive heads are adorned with red flowers, their backs caparisoned with ornamented saddles. The yak jockeys' whiphands fly as they urge their mounts still faster towards the finish line.

Climbing and Exploration Beginning in the 1980s, the regional mountaineering teams scaled Qowoyag, Noijinkargsang and Namjagbarwa mountains. Ethnic Tibetan members of the Chinese National Mountaineering Team conquered 13 peaks, more than 110 climbers reaching the very summit, more than 90 climbers ascending above 8,000 metres on more than 140 occasions and more than 200 climbers exceeding 7,600 metres.

During the course of these climbs more than 40 master mountineers emerged, including ten state-level masters. The Chinese national team, the Tibetan regional team and a Japanese mountaineering team joined together to scale the mighty peaks of Naimona'nyi, Zhangzi and Lhabu Gyikang.

In May 1988 a 12-man team composed of Chinese, Japanese and Nepalese mountaineers and journalists scaled Mount Qomolangma from the south or north slope, traversing the world's highest peak for the first time in history.

Sports Facilities Today there are more than 1,000 sports facilities of various types in Tibet The modern multiple-purpose gymnasium in Lhasa's northern suburbs can hold 4,000 spectators for basketball, volleyball, table-tennis, badminton, gymnastics, wushu martial arts, weightlifting and wrestling.