2019 Chinese Ethnic Games: Tibet's Zhu Zuoka excels in Ya Jia event
Updated 20:22, 11-Sep-2019
Sports Scene
00:48

China’s 11th Ethnic Games continued on Tuesday in Zhengzhou, the capital city of Henan Province, and the day featured a couple of more interesting ethnic sporting events. 

It was Tibet's Zhu Zuoka who competed and hogged the limelight in men's Ya Jia, also known as tug of war.  

Ya Jia is over a century old in Tibet and the region has six athletes in this event, including Zhu, also a freestyle wrestler. He trained very hard to lose 40 kilograms  in just two months to compete in the 68 kilograms division of Ya Jia. 

This sport pits two individuals against each other in a test of strength as they pull on opposite ends of a silk rope to a certain distance to one side. However, Zhu didn’t disappoint his fans and the Tibetan sports lovers as he flexed his muscles and showed his strength by winning the event in just a few seconds. 

Another traditional and ethnic event of the day was speed stilts. Athletes were elevated 30 centimeters by bamboo stilts and then ran as fast as they could down the track. The event has a significant degree of difficulty and required a high level of balance and skills, not to mention speed.