Battle Panda

As both the USA and Nigeria played its first two games in Chengdu, A.K.A. the Panda Capital of China, it seemed like almost every player on both teams had a stuffed animal panda of some sort when boarding the plane to Shanghai. The overhead compartments were full of pandas and there were panda heads sticking out of backpacks. One Nigerian player definitely won the panda contest when she boarded with a HUGE stuffed panda that looked to be the size of an eight-month old panda (based on knowledge gathered at the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center). That panda could have had a seat of his own on the plane. We’re not sure where she put it, but that will be a fun item to bring back to Nigeria (where they have a lot of wild animals, but no pandas).