'Chinese rugby'? It's more than that
How far can an ethnic traditional sport go in a place like Beijing with not as many ethnic minorities as elsewhere? The answer is a national games title and three runner-up finishes with a team history of only 20 years.
The Beijing Huapao team was established before the 1999 National Traditional Games of Ethnic Groups because the host needed to a team. Zhang Binggang, a teacher at the China Agriculture University (CAU), was picked to lead the team in 1998 because of his footballing background.
Started by the Zhuang, Dong and Yilao ethnic groups from the southern part of China, ethnic sports didn't have much of a presence in Beijing at the time. For the games in 1999, Zhang selected some players from the university's rugby team, China's first rugby club which was founded in 1990.
Why did a football coach choose rugby players?
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