Shuaijiao and the First edition of the National Games of the People's Republic of China
- Emanuele Papa
- Jul 28, 2022
- 2 min read
Emanuele Papa 28/07/2022
From September 13th to October 3rd 1959 the first edition of the National Games of the People's Republic of China was held in Beijing. With a total of 36 different events, more than 10 thousand athletes from all over China gathered in the capital to compete against each other. Divided into eight different weight classes, wrestlers from all over the country fought each other to become unparalleled under the sky!
After a fearsome competition, the Hebei province team, led by Zhang Kuiyuan 张魁元, one of the four great Zhang of Tianjin, won first place as a team with 4 golds, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.
One of the most exciting battles of the whole competition was fought in the final match of the middle heavy weight category between Yang Ziming 样子明 and the Mongolian wrestling king Seng Ge 僧格. Both the two wrestlers fought to their best, holding on to each other trying to throw their opponent with all the best moves they had, and displaying an amazing level of wrestling skills. However, despite the absolute resolve of both wrestlers, the final match ended in a draw. However, in accordance with the rules of the competition, having totaled a higher overall total score among all the matches, the final and the title of champion was awarded Yang Ziming.
This final match becomes even more interesting if we look back six years in the past. In 1953, the first national minorities sports performance and competition was held in Tianjin. During the event, one specific wrestling bout was so impressive that its memory lasted until today. Zhang Kuiyuan and Seng Ge, both heavy weights, fought each other and to the best of three falls. The standard format of the time. Zhang was already in his forties, while Seng Ge was 28, at the prime of his potential. The grabbed each other, trying numerous techniques, but none of them seemed to gain the upper hand. However, suddenly Seng Ge pulled and pushed Zhang to break his posture, and with a beautiful dege 德合 he threw him to the ground. After that, Zhang Kiyuan managed to get Seng Ge with a gouzi 勾子, but that wasn’t enough to win the match. Seng Ge was the winner.
Episodes like these tell us about a time when competitions mutual exchanges between shuaijiao wrestlers and wrestlers from inner Mongolia were still very frequent. Only by looking back to the old days and always being open to learn will allow today's shuaijiao wrestlers to improve their skills.
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