参赛 (cān sài) means 'to take part in a competition' — it focuses on entering a contest. Unlike 比赛 (bǐ sài), which is the noun 'competition' or verb 'to have a match', and 竞争 (jìng zhēng), which means 'to compete' in a general sense (e.g., business rivalry), 参赛 is a verb-object compound that does not take a direct object.