Fujian teams swim hard in dragon boat tug-of-war

Eight teams from Fujian province participated in the 7th Open Tournament of China's Dragon Boat Tug-of-war on Thursday at Dragon Boat Pond in Xiamen's Jimei district.

It's part of the 2022 Cross-Straits Dragon Boat Race, which kicked off the same day, to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on Friday this year.

The first sporting event of the dragon boat tug-of-war was unveiled at Dragon Boat Pond in 2014, with detailed competition rules, standards for competition venues and boats and referee guidelines.

With the beat from the boat's drummer, participants have to paddle energetically to try to pull their opponent's boat across the line within one minute. The winning team is the one who can pull it off in two out of three tries.

One of the most popular spectator sports during the festival, it is a test of physical strength, endurance and teamwork.

The top three teams of this year's race were from Jimei Xuecun Sports Association, Jimei Street and Jimei University, respectively.

"When there is a stalemate, I keep telling myself I need to paddle with more strength. Sometimes perseverance does win out," said Chen Bijia, 21, a contestant from the Jimei University team.