Chile has never won
a major trophy before. Now they are the proud winners of
the 44th edition of CopaAmérica, the main international football
tournament for national teams in South America, that took place in Chile. Twelve
teams competed; Uruguay were the
defending champions, but were eliminated by the hosts in the quarter–finals.
A mascot is any
person, animal, or object thought to bring luck or anything used to represent a
group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports
team, society, military unit, or brand name. In the world of sports, mascots
are also used for merchandising.Costumed mascots are commonplace, and are
regularly used as goodwill ambassadors in the community.
Buin is a commune
of Chile, 35 km south of the regional capital.
Of its many attractions is the Zoo, comprising many animals and known
for its conservation initiative, care of endangered species and breeding
programs for optimal health of the animals. Its web claims that animals are organized within the park according to the
geographical area to which they belong: American Zone, Chilean, Asia-Pacific,
European and African. It reportedly
started with people bringing injured wild animals and exotic pets to the farm
for rehabilitation; some could not be
returned to the wild after they recovered and became permanent residents at
what would eventually become the largest zoo in Chile.
Like Olympics and
many other tournaments, each Copa América since 1987 has its own mascot.
Gardelito, the mascot for the 1987 competition, was the first Copa América
mascot. Gardelito was a handsome, manly little doll representing the famous
tango singer Carlos Gardel, an Argentine idol…… for the recently concluded one
it was ‘Zincha’, a young culpeo fox ~the name was chosen by the public over two
other options, "Andi" and "Kul".The culpeo is a South
American species of fox bearing similarities to the recognized red fox. It has
grey and reddish fur, a white chin, reddish legs, and a stripe on its back that
may be barely visible.The culpeo's diet consists largely of rodents, rabbits,
birds and lizards, and to a lesser extent, plant material and carrion. In some
regions it has become rare, but overall the species is not threatened with
extinction.
Zincha, a young
Andean fox native to Chile, the mascot, at first glance, would look to provide welcome respite from the overcomplicated
justifications that follow modern mascots. But according to its detractors, Zincha
is a one-dimensional fox. Zincha is not cuddly. Zincha has sharp edges and is
definitely not childproof. Zincha has mad eyebrows and a slight slice in one,
presumably designed to appeal towards ‘urban’ fans. Zincha is not fun and
family friendly. Zincha is not designed for kids. They say that Zincha was created as a
marketing ploy to squeeze cash out of South American fans. Before earning the
name ‘Zincha,’ tournament organizers presented fans with three options, with
the final name to be the one that garnered the most votes in a poll; a poll in
which fans had to pay to take part.
Photo credit : http://faculty.ucr.edu/
In the World of
Sports, prediction often is interesting – either for stakes or even
otherwise. In the 2010 FIFA World
cup, it was the divination of - Paul the
Octopus, a two-year-old common octopus
with a history of correctly predicting the results of major German
international football matches especially in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The ungainly looking creature was hatched at
the Sea LifePark in Weymouth, England but resided at Sea Life Aquarium in
Oberhausen, Germany. Before German
international football matches, Paul was presented with food in two identical
containers; one container marked with the flag of Germany and the other is
marked with the flag of Germany's opponent. In each instance, Paul's choice of
food was interpreted as his predicted victor. Paul reportedly chose the winner correctly in five of Germany's six
UEFA Euro 2008 matches, predicting that Germany would win every match except a
loss to Croatia.
The psychic Paul
the Octopus was not alone; a rare two-headed tortoise called Magdalena, German
cross-eyed opossum called Heidi, Indian elephant named Chitta at Krakow zoo, Brett
the zebra, TianTian the giant panda, Barry the box jellyfish, Elmer the
spot-breasted ibis, Chiyo the Thompson’s gazelle and Stephen the slime mold. Joining the list is
the red fox ‘Zincha’ from Buin Zoo which by chosing a goal predicted Chile to
be the winner. Red fox
"Zincha" on Friday made his prediction for the second match of Chile
in the 2015 Copa America against Mexico to be held on June 15 and which
predicted the triumph of Chile and its prediction [or coincidence] is proved
right as Chine won the Copa America.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
6th July
2015.
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