Japan baseball fans leap into river as 'Curse of the Colonel' lifted

OSAKA - Dozens of baseball fans in Osaka hurled themselves into a filthy city-centre river and partied long into the night after the Hanshin Tigers won the Japan Series for only the second time in their history.

The country's most passionately-supported team beat the Orix Buffaloes in the final game of the best-of-seven series late on Sunday night to win the title for the first time since 1985.

It lifted the so-called "Curse of the Colonel", which warned that the Tigers would never win another Japan Series after fans threw a plastic statue of Colonel Sanders snatched from a nearby KFC restaurant into the river the last time they won the title.

Police had warned fans not to jump into the Dotonbori River, which authorities had described as like "swimming in toilet water".

But the warning went unheeded after the Tigers' latest victory, with cheers erupting every time a fan hurled themself into the murky water, though no injuries were reported.