Contestants for the Thailand Stage of the Spogomi World Cup 2023 pick up cigarette butts during the trash picking competition in Bangkok on July 2, 2023.
Cleanliness is a mindset. What better way to promote this mindset than by making the process of cleaning trash and litter a competition?
Spogomi, a sport originating in Japan, is a combination of ‘Spo’ from ‘Sports’ and ‘Gomi’ from gomi hiroi, that translates to ‘litter gathering’. In Spogomi, three players collect trash along a public route, earning points for quantity and type. The event looks to change the way community clean-up is viewed by the public.
The Spogomi World Cup 2023 is scheduled to be held in Japan in November 2023. In preparation for the same, preliminary tournaments and national tournaments are to take place across 47 prefectures in Japan, as well as six major states, and in 20 countries overseas.
To select the representatives for India, Chennai is hosting the India Stage for the Spogomi World Cup on July 9, at Besant Nagar beach. A total of 50 teams will be participating. The winning team will earn a trip to Tokyo to participate in the finals of the World Cup. “The event aims to utilise Chennai’s beach clean-up culture to promote the sport and provide community service simultaneously,” says Nikhil Ravikumar, CEO of Cirqt and chief organiser of the India Stage.
Contestants for the Thailand Stage of the Spogomi World Cup 2023 show off bags of litter during the trash picking competition in Bangkok on July 2, 2023.
The event will be presided by Taga Masayuki, Consul-General of Japan in Chennai, as well as the MP for Chennai South, Thamizhachi Thangapandian. To qualify for the event, a trio must register through either a ‘quiz stage’ or an ‘art stage’. The former involves the team taking part in an online quiz and the latter requires teams to submit artwork created out of junk.
However, the event holds more in store than just trash collection. It will also be unveiling the Asian Culture Club, a not-for-profit community that welcomes anyone with an appreciation for any kind of Asian culture, be it Japanese, Korean, or even Indian. This includes celebrating facets like anime, manga, J-Pop, and K-Pop.
Wildcard entries are still open for the preliminary round. For details, call 9025099008, or email contact.cirqt.com.