tug-of-war

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1
  1. The two countries have been involved in a tug-of-war over (the) control of the island.
  2. In fierce rivalry for first place, finally Raman’s group won the tug-of-war game.
    Please correct all with your comment.
    Thanks.
2
  1. The two countries have been involved in a tug-of-war type of fight for the control of the island.
  2. In a fierce competition for the first place, Raman’s group finally won the game of tug-of-war.
3
  1. The two countries have been involved in a tug-of-war over (the) control of the island. <-- correct as written. It means they have been fighting between the two of them over who gets control of the island.
  2. In a fierce competition, Raman’s team finally won the tug-of-war. <-- there is no need to add ‘game’ at all. As there are only two teams, it is also not natural to add ‘for first place’.)
4

Possibly use ‘game’ to show it is such and not a metaphor and better 'the game of …