Mahjong has been named formally as a sixth international mind sport, reports Beijing Daily.

 

The tile game, which originated in Ming Dynasty China five hundred years ago, joins the ranks of traditional mind sports: Chess, Bridge, Draughts, Go and Xiangqi.

 

The move was announced by the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), during the Global Mind Sports Innovative and Development Forum, which has just drawn to a close in Beijing.

 

The decision to admit the Mahjong International League (MIL) as the sixth full member of the IMSA was made during its first Executive Board Meeting in April in Denmark.

 

However, while the game is hugely popular across China, the fact that its rules vary from one region to another, made it difficult to give Mahjong a world profile.

 

The setting of world-wide competition rules has facilitated the development of mahjong, and follows the trend of standardization and professionalization in mind sports. 

 

"Competitive mahjong will bring new opportunities for the enhancement of mind sports around the world. We will further promote the standardization and Mahjong competitions, guided by the concepts of fairness, openness, inclusiveness, inheritance and development," said Jose Damiani, founder and honorary chairman of IMSA.

 

Mahjong has been played in China since the Qing Dynasty, five hundred years ago.