Goaded with small sticks, the fighters went into battle, pushing and shoving until Red Tooth overpowered Black Foot to win the match and cheers from the crowd.
In Beijing, autumn marks cricket fighting season, a traditional Chinese sport with more than 1,000 years of history.
Similar to cockfighting, but without the blood, the contests involve two crickets in a ring the size of a shoebox to determine which is the more aggressive. The reputations of the owners are on the line and there is plenty of betting on the side.
Photo: Reuters
This year, more than 20 teams from across China competed in the two-day National Cricket Fighting Championships, putting forth their most prized contenders — which are named for their physical characteristics — as fans packed into a small, smoky hall to watch the matches broadcast on a screen.
“I raise crickets as a hobby because I admire their positive spirit,” said Man Zhiguo, a truck driver who has been involved in the sport for more than 40 years. “They never admit defeat, they have a fighting spirit, so we all like them.”
Man, 54, has a diverse collection of at least 70 crickets from all over China, some worth more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,600).
They are kept in modest clay jars on the shelves of his cricket room in a traditional Beijing courtyard. He feeds his fighters a mixture of bean paste and water as part of a high-protein diet and trains them regularly.
Cricket raising and fighting are associated with Beijing’s old timers, but Man said the sport still has a devoted following.
The insects have a lifespan of 100 days or so and are in their prime in the autumn. Every year, 25 major cities in China hold regional fights and the winners advance to the prestigious contests in Beijing.
At the national championships, each team was allowed 35 crickets and each insect was weighed and labeled the day before the competition.
“We must have crickets within the same weight category compete, just like what we do with wrestling, weight-lifting and boxing,” said Zhao Boguang, the organizer of the championships.
In the fights, the handlers poke and prod their insects with a piece of hay or a small stick to irritate them. A judge then removes a divider between the two crickets so they can tussle with each other.
Loud chirps indicate the crickets have been significantly riled up, but getting them to fight is not easy.
Judges follow a set of strict guidelines, most dating back to the 13th century, to determine match points. Results are tallied by gauging which cricket was able to overcome the other and then posted for viewing just outside the match hall.
Winning teams moved through elimination rounds over the two days, with points deducted for failing to abide by rules such as delivering the crickets to the organizers six days before the competition.
As for Man, his crickets did not lose a single match, but his team placed fourth overall.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS