Mahjong wins official status as 'mind sport'

Speakers: Li Ningjing, Sam Duckett, and Lu Sirui 

Mahjong requires four people to play. [Photo: from Baidu.com]

The Chinese traditional game mahjong has recently become the six^th officially recognized mind sport of the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA).

Jose Damiani, founder and honorary chairman of the IMSA said, "competitive mahjong will bring new opportunities for the enhancement of mind sports around the world." He said this at the International Forum on Global Mind Sports Innovative Development in Beijing.

According to the official website of the IMSA, the league was accepted as the sixth member of the IMSA at the association's first executive board meeting of 2017, which was held on April 5 in Denmark.

The second World Mahjong Sports Games will be held in May 2018.

The tile game, which originated in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) 500 years ago, joins the ranks of traditional mind sports: chess, bridge, draughts, and xiangqi (Chinese chess).

The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI.