To purists, it is a non-competitive pastime in which beauty outweighs victory, but to others, Myanmar’s enigmatic ball game chinlone is a source of pride that has already brought the host nation a clutch of gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games.
A mesmerizing form of keepy-uppy with a cane ball among six players, the sport is one of a welter of disciplines unknown to the wider world, but popular within the region.
The roster at this year’s Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar is peppered with obscure non-Olympic sports, such as martial arts vovinam, wushu and pencak silat — an Indonesian fighting skill — as well as another more widely played cane ball game, sepak takraw.
Photo: AFP
The regional sporting extravaganza has returned to the country after a 44-year absence, marking another landmark in Myanmar’s opening up after decades cloistered by paranoid generals.
Desperate to showcase chinlone, Myanmar lobbied hard for its inclusion in the Games as a “culturally specific” sport, sparking allegations from outraged rivals that the hosts were cherry-picking events for its athletes.
While it is not alone in its use of feet to juggle a ball, chinlone’s uniqueness is revealed in its high kicks, balletic overhead touches and precise exchanges between players, who gracefully swap positions or rotate around a circle. It holds a hallowed place in Myanmar as a recreation casually played on roadsides everywhere, but also for its almost meditational quality, which is revealed through the concentration required to repeat the moves over long periods.
The game is so idiosyncratic that formal rules had to be crafted for the games in Naypyidaw, such as the introduction of an opposition, scoring system and defined playing area.
However, its inclusion posed a sizeable challenge to the other six nations who signed up for the discipline.
“They had to learn it from scratch,” said Boonchai Lorhpipat, deputy president of the international sepak takraw federation — under whose banner the sport has fallen, as it also uses a cane ball.
“Some of the basic skills are the same as sepak takraw, but the game is very different,” he said. Officials had to make the game “umpire-able,” he added, with rules including restricting the game inside two concentric circles, introducing scores across three sets and holding a parallel game to act as the opposition.
Fans have gloried in the staging of the game, filling a purpose-built indoor arena to cheer Myanmar’s men’s and women’s chinlone teams.
There are now calls for it to be included on a more regular basis in the Southeast Asian Games, which are held every two years.
Somewhat predictably, Myanmar hoovered up six golds, helping fire the country to an early lead in the medals table in a competition that inspires fierce regional rivalry, but goes all but undetected in the wider sporting world.
“As a Myanmar woman, I’m delighted to win this medal... I don’t have words to describe my happiness,” a jubilant Khine Win Thu said after claiming gold in a women’s event on Monday.
The team cruised past Thailand, with the ball hitting the floor only a handful times in the 30 minutes of play.
To chinlone masters, the sport is a metaphor of sorts for their country, which has undergone sweeping political and economic reforms since 2011.
“It’s a complex, delicate and difficult game,” Myanmar head chinlone coach Khin Muang Win said.
“People do not know about this tradition... [but] I believe the world will get to know Myanmar better through chinlone,” he added.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS