Wando-gun, Key Points to Watch in Ssireum at the 62nd Jeonnam Sports Festival

Held at Gunoe Elementary School from May 13 to 14

The "62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival," a sports festival for the unity of 2 million Jeollanam-do residents, will be held in Wando-gun from May 12 to 15.

According to Wando-gun on the 9th, the organizing committee of the 62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival is introducing the rules and viewing points of each event every week so that residents and spectators can enjoy the games more.

The exterior view of Gunoe Elementary School, where the 62nd Jeonnam Sports Festival Ssireum wrestling match will be held
[Photo by Wando-gun]

The event being introduced this time is "Ssireum," a traditional Korean folk game and sport where two people grab each other's satba (cloth belt) on a sandpit and compete in strength and technique to throw the opponent down and win.

Ssireum is a very simple game where the match ends when any part of the body above the knees touches the ground first, but it is a sport full of numerous psychological battles and complex techniques even in a very short moment.

Ssireum techniques are divided into four types: hand techniques, leg techniques, waist techniques, and mixed techniques, which are simple, but there are 54 detailed techniques that are very diverse.

The Ssireum competition of the 62nd Jeollanam-do Sports Festival will be held for two days from May 13 to 14 at Gunoe Elementary School, with 242 players from 22 city and county teams competing on the Ssireum ring.

The number of participants is limited to up to 9 players excluding the manager and coach (including one male and one female substitute each). Males can include one high school student, but there is no restriction for females.

The competition format is a tournament-style 7-player team match (4 men, 3 women). For men, a weight limit of 140 kg or less is applied, while for women, no weight limit is applied and the competition proceeds without weight class distinctions.

Eligibility requires players to be from Jeollanam-do and to have completed player registration for 2023. Players from other provinces’ professional, workplace, military, or school teams are not allowed to participate.

In the 61st competition, Yeongam took 1st place, Gwangyang 2nd, and Suncheon and Gurye tied for 3rd. In the 58th competition in 2019, Naju took 1st place, Yeongam 2nd, and Boseong and Mokpo 3rd.

In the 62nd competition, it will be an interesting viewing point to see whether the powerhouse Yeongam-gun will win for the second consecutive time, or if the mid-to-upper ranked teams such as Gwangyang-si, Suncheon-si, Gurye-gun, and Jangheung-gun will challenge for the championship.

Generally, players compete within weight classes against opponents with similar physical conditions, but the Ssireum competition at the Jeollanam-do Sports Festival is a tournament-style 7-player team match held without weight class distinctions.

Therefore, depending on how the player matchups are made, the results can vary dramatically, which is an interesting viewing point not usually seen in typical Ssireum matches.

The host, Wando-gun, ranked 9th in the 61st competition after losing to the powerhouse Yeongam-gun, but with the advantage of being the host and the characteristics of the team match held without weight classes, it is worth expecting a leap to the top ranks.

Honam Reporting Headquarters reporter Kyungpil Choi ckp6737@asiae.co.kr

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.