Wrestling for glory at Vietnam's 'Vat Cau' festival

They are playing Vat Cau -- a centuries-old sport which began as a training exercise for soldiers and contains elements of wrestling and rugby.

Vat Cau is a centuries-old sport which began as a training exercise for soldiers and contains elements of wrestling and rugby. Photo by AFP/Manan Vatsyayana

Vat Cau is the main draw of a three-day annual festival held during Vietnam's much celebrated Tet Lunar New Year in Thuy Linh village, just 10 kilometers (six miles) from the centre of the capital Hanoi.

A single match has four separate teams of eight men wearing waist straps of different colours. They tussle over a 17-kilogram (37-pound) ball made from the wood of a jackfruit tree, laboriously inching it towards one of the holes dug in each team's corner.

"This game is the tradition and the pride of the Thuy Linh people," Le Duc Duong, an athlete with 15 years of experience playing Vat Cau, told AFP on Saturday, the second day of the festival.

In Vat Cau, four teams tussle over a heavy wooden ball, inching it towards one of the holes dug in each team's corner. Photo by AFP/Manan Vatsyayana

Before the annual showdown at Thuy Linh's communal temple, each sportsman must train in sports like swimming, running and bodybuilding to get in tip-top shape, he added.

The audience at Saturday's competition were in high spirits, laughing and cheering as a match announcer commented on the athletes pouncing on each other in the field.

"Some of our athletes have a six-pack body, and some have a six-pack-in-one," he said wryly.

At the end of the three-day tournament, the squad with the most points advances to the next round, and the champions in the final stage will receive a cash prize of $260 to share between them -- a small reward that gifts bragging rights to one team among the 16 competing.

Before the annual showdown each sportsman must train in sports like swimming, running and bodybuilding. Photo by AFP/Manan Vatsyayana

Dating back to the 11th century, the game was invented by a revered general to teach his recruits about the importance of teamwork, intelligence and strength when fighting against foreign invaders, festival organiser Le Minh Xuong told AFP.

"(This game) inherits the tradition of our forefathers, which is to train the men in the village to have health and fitness for the ultimate purpose of protecting our homeland," he said.

But for the players today, the stakes are not so high.

The game was invented in the 11th century to teach young fighters about using teamwork, intelligence and strength. Photo by AFP/Manan Vatsyayana

"We play this game for fun actually. The prize is not important for us," 20-year-old player Nguyen The Hien, a kickboxing trainer, said.

"Each year we play it and it brings joy to us."