TOKYO: Blending its love of all things cute with its rich cultural heritage, Japan on Friday unveiled the mascots for the 2019 Rugby World Cup: a pair of pot-bellied lions.
With luxurious manes, short horns and faces that appear to be shaped like rugby balls, mascots “Ren” and “G” are inspired by “shishi,” the mythical lion-like figure that features in Japan’s new year celebrations and kabuki theater.
“Ren,” with a white mane is the parent of child “G,” whose mane is red, and the pair bounced up and down, trading high-fives and passing a rugby ball back-and-forth at a press conference in Tokyo.
The pair, chosen from among 50 candidates, “represent the culture of host Japan” and “convey the message that it would be the first World Cup in Japan and in Asia,” said Shogo Miyata, an official from the 2019 organizing committee.
They are the first mascots for a Rugby World Cup since 1999, and will be competing for attention with a plethora of cutesy mascots, which in Japan promote everything from local regions to prisons.
“Mascots are symbolic in Japan,” said Rob Abernethy, executive director of the World Cup.
“The story behind our mascots will create connections, a bond between the Japanese people, rugby and its value,” he said.
Japan will host the Rugby World Cup just a year before the 2020 Olympics.
Three sets of potential Olympic mascots are currently vying for the votes of Japanese schoolchildren, with the result expected to be announced next month.
Roar-gby! Japan unveils lion mascots for Rugby World Cup
Roar-gby! Japan unveils lion mascots for Rugby World Cup
Sweden’s Ekstrom takes Dakar stage seven win in Saudi Arabia
- Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah stays top in the car category
WADI AL-DAWASI: Mattias Ekstrom won stage seven of the Dakar Rally on Sunday as the field started the second week in Saudi Arabia with late drama for Toyota’s Henk Lategan while Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah stayed top in the car category.
South African Lategan had looked like taking the stage and overall lead but let both slip through his fingers after the day’s final checkpoint.
Instead, Sweden’s Ekstrom, winner of the prologue in a Ford Raptor, became the first driver in the top car category to take more than one stage this year.
Lategan had led Ekstrom after 417 of 459km from Riyadh to Wadi Al-Dawasir, but finished eight minutes and 35 seconds behind the winner after having to stop for 10 minutes at the 428km mark.
Ekstrom moved up to second overall, four minutes and 47 seconds behind Dacia Sandriders’ five-times Dakar winner Al-Attiyah with Lategan third.
Spaniard Nani Roma was fourth for Ford after being reinstated by stewards late on Saturday’s rest day as winner of stage five and having a one minute and 10 second penalty rescinded.
In the motorcycle category, Australian Daniel Sanders extended his lead over American rival Ricky Brabec to four minutes and 25 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides a further 15 seconds adrift.
Sanders had been a mere 45 seconds clear after Friday’s sixth stage but Honda’s Brabec finished the 459km stage 10th to the Australian’s fourth.
Argentine Benavides won the stage, his second triumph of the event, in a one-two for the Red Bull KTM factory team with Spaniard Edgar Canet, while Honda’s French challenger Adrien Van Beveren was third.
Monday’s 481km stage eight is the longest of the race with riders and drivers navigating canyons and dunes around Wadi Ad Dawasir.
