By NOREEN NASIR Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — B-girl India from the Netherlands beat refugee team member b-girl Talash in the first ever breaking battle at the Olympics, kicking off the women’s competition as breaking — or break dancing — debuted at the Paris Games on Friday.
India Sardjoe — known as “b-girl India” — advanced after beating Manizha Talash, or “b-girl Talash,” in the sole pre-qualifying matchup before the round-robin stage.
The one-off pre-qualifier was added in May, when Talash was added to the Olympic roster after the b-girl from Afghanistan missed registration for qualifying events. The International Olympic Committee’s executive board invited her to participate after learning of her efforts to defy the strict rule of the Taliban in her home country.
Sardjoe started her routine showing off some of her power moves before Talash responded by focusing on toprocking and moving into footwork on the floor. Talahs later unfurled a cape that said “Free Afghan Women.”
The Olympic competition now goes into in a round-robin phase, when groups of four breakers will face off against each other one by one. Only two will emerge from each round-robin group before the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final matchup to determine the champion by the end of the evening.
Before the battle began, American rapper Snoop Dogg made a grand entrance into the stadium to the soundtrack of “Drop it Like it’s Hot,” prompting cheers and dancing in the stands. The emcees introduced the 17 b-girls competing on Friday, with the b-girls from France and the U.S. received the loudest applause from the crowd.
The judges are all b-boys and b-girls in their own right from around the world. They sat between the circular floor, modeled after a record, and a massive replica of a boombox, in a nod to the musical root of breaking — the breakbeat itself — which is the moment when a song’s vocals drop and the DJ loops the beat over and over, to allow b-boys and b-girls to make their mark on the dance floor.