Mastering control of the ever rising and falling rattan chinlone ball instils patience, a veteran of Myanmar’s traditional sport says. “You concentrate only on your touch, and you concentrate only on your style.”Chinlone, Myanmar’s national game, traces its roots back centuries. Evidence for its longevity is seen in a French archaeologist’s discovery of a replica silver chinlone ball at a pagoda built during the Pyu era, which stretched from 200 BC to 900 AD. “No one else will preserve Myanmar’s traditional heritage unless the Myanmar people do it,” player Min Naing, 42, says. “I worry about this sport disappearing,” master chinlone ball maker Pe Thein says while labouring in a sweltering workshop in Hinthada, 110km (68 miles) northwest of Yangon.