On June 4, at Ninh Hai Commune Stadium, Hoa Lu District, Ninh Binh Province, the Provincial Farmers’ Association organized the Ninh Binh Goat Fighting Festival 2024. This is a new activity, held for the first time during Ninh Binh Tourism Week 2024.
The goat fighting festival is held with the hope of creating a new and attractive tourism product, a unique cultural feature, and at the same time contributing to the preservation and development of the precious genetic resources of the Ninh Binh goat breed.
Participating in the Ninh Binh Goat Fighting Festival in 2024, there are 16 goat fighters from 8/8 Farmers’ Associations of districts and cities in the province competing in two weight categories of 40 – 47 kg and 48 – 55 kg. The goat fighters are all male goats, carefully selected by goat owners, in good health, 3 years old or older, with a balanced appearance and clear origin.
The Organizing Committee of the 2024 Ninh Binh Goat Fighting Festival presented souvenir flags to participating units.
Before the competition, the referee will weigh the goats and draw lots to arrange pairs of goats according to their weight classes to compete against each other. Each class will compete in a knockout round of 4 matches, with the winner determined by calculating points based on the moves of the goat fighters. Each match lasts 15 minutes.
The attacks and defenses such as: clamping horns, breaking horns, locking legs, tiger pouncing, spearing, etc. of the goat fighters bring the audience attractive, fierce and beautiful matches.
The Goat Fighting Competition takes place in one day. At the end of the tournament, the Organizing Committee will award First, Second and Third prizes to each goat fighter in each weight category.
According to the Organizing Committee, after the fighting festival, all goat fighters will be brought back to continue raising, caring for, training and breeding to create healthy, fast-growing goats of good quality.
Chairman of the Ninh Binh Farmers’ Association Dinh Hong Thai said that the Goat Fighting Festival is an activity in Ninh Binh Tourism Week 2024 to create new tourism products, contributing to affirming the Ninh Binh tourism brand as a unique, safe, friendly, quality and attractive destination.
In particular, this is an opportunity to encourage farmers, cooperatives, branches, and associations raising and processing products from Ninh Binh mountain goats to meet, exchange experiences in selecting goat breeds, care techniques, training, and processing products from Ninh Binh goats; encourage the movement of raising and processing goats; encourage farmers to be more aware of caring for and protecting good goat breeds, to expand and promote local economic development.
The Goat Fighting Festival Organizing Committee hopes that in the coming time, there will be more new tourism products bearing the identity of the millennium heritage land such as: Goat Fighting Festival, Goat Racing Festival, Goat Beauty Contest… and more culinary products from goat. Thereby, contributing to spreading and affirming the brand of Ninh Binh goat, delicious dishes made from goat to domestic and international friends.