“Gravediggers from Tekeli, Taldykorgan, Ushtobe, Koksu and Karabulak will be vying for the title,” local Internet user Artyom Deryagin had earlier written in a Facebook post.
Later it was announced, however, that the contest had been called off after too few competitors showed up to try their grave-digging luck.
A similar contest was recently held in Hungary where a total of 18 two-man shovel-wielding teams competed during the event at a cemetery in Debrecen, the country’s second-largest city.
In a somewhat morbid competition the participants were to dig a grave approximately 200 centimeters long, 80 centimeters wide and 160 centimeters deep. It took the winning team less than half an hour to achieve this result.
The contest’s goal was to improve the prestige of grave digging and attract new blood into the macabre trade.
The winners will take part in an international tournament where they’ll be facing teams from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
