Saturday, February 17, 2007

Judose

I don't normally watch a lot of CCTV-5, the home of sport on Chinese national TV, largely because of its tremendous focus on NBA basketball and the English Premier League and a corresponding lack of Rugby action.

Today, however, I got to watch something new and, er, different. Judose.

If I've got the rules right ( I was watching from a treadmill in the gym so I couldn't hear the commentary) the two combatants enter the field of battle at which point they inexplicably grab one of their feet with a hand and then hop into battle with their opponents. It appears that you lose if you let go of your foot, fall over, hop out of bounds or use your free hand to steady yourself by grabbing your opponent.

I'm sure it's probably quite difficult and very tiring but I couldn't quite see the point. It's not like wrestling or boxing which might simulate an actual fight. This, not so much ("I'm going to duff you up behind the bike sheds Kevin, just remember to keep hold of your own foot").

It would be interesting to see a Judose specialist enter the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I can see, for example, ju-jitsu expert taking on a boxer, but if you're relying on your opponent to hop on one foot, it may put you at quite a disadvantage if he doesn't.

It's probably worth waiting to see if it develops before they get too excited about the television coverage as it may just well go the way of kabaddi.

4 comments:

Jeremiah Jenne said...

You saw it too! I thought it was a baijiu-induced post-New Years celebration hallucination.

I love CCTV-5, they show sports I never knew existed. When I asked YJ about it, she shrugged and asked, "You've never done that?"

No, honey. I haven't. Look out WWE & UFC, here comes the next big thing....

Reluctant Nomad said...

A bit late, I know, but Happy Chinese New Year.

Chris said...

Maybe this isn't something I should admit to proudly, but, umm, I've sorta done something like that. It's sorta like an Apache fighting drill my old teacher put us through. When I did it, if I remember right, we got to use both hands, but the one leg had to stay up on its own. Wouldn't try it in UFC, but man, it's exhausting as a workout.

DB said...

See, I've got no problem with that as an admission.

We do all sorts of silly things as a 'game' because it's fun and a bit of exercise but there's a big difference between what makes a good game and what makes a sport, particularly one worthy of arranging and televising an international event.

Things like this seem as worthy of air time as it would be worthwhile adding an 'egg and spoon' race to the olympic schedule.