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Prague hosts World Historical Medieval Battle Championship

Xinhua, May 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

The 6th World Historical Medieval Battle Championship, opened here Thursday bringing modern knights from more than 30 countries to the event.

The championship, called "Battle of the Nations-2015" is holding battles in three independent categories: one-on-one duels, and teams of five against five, and 21 against 21. On the first day, eleven teams performed in group battles of 21 on 21, in which the 21 fighters of each team waged battle with each other on a surface 7.5 meters wide by 15 meters long.

According to the event's spokeswoman, Miroslava Jozova, all the swords, shields and armor used by the fighters are authentic replicas of original medieval arms, but have been blunted for safety reasons. Referees, known as marshals, supervise the competition.

The event will last until May 10. It will be closed with an exhibition battle in which up to 100 fighters will take part.

The 1st Battle of the Nations was held in Kharkov, Ukraine, in 2010 with the participation of teams from Belarus, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. In 2015, the national teams of Hungary and The Netherlands joined the event. Endit