Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Compete Closely in Traditional Sports at Nomad Games

Kazakh traditional sports athletes won 25 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze medals. Neck to neck with the Kazakhstan's team are the hosts, Kyrgyzstan, with 23 gold, 24 silver and 11 bronze medals.

Most medals for Kazakhstan were won in audaryspak. In this sport, often called the horseback wrestling, riders try to topple the opponent from the saddle. Both strength of the rider and composure and collaboration of the horse matter. Kazakhstan has gold medalists in all the categories of riders from 60 to 100 kilos. Their main opponents in the finals were from the Kyrgyz team.

Another gold medal was won in zhambu atu. In this Kyrgyz traditional sport riders shoot arrows from a horse galloping at full speed.

Tug-of-war, the strength game that transcends nomadic cultures, is popular around the word, and had many participating teams from Asia, Europe, Americas and Australia, Kazakhstan won two gold medals, both in categories of 4 and 6 team members.

Much attention and admiration among the crowds in Kyrchyn Gorge venue was attracted by Kazakhstan’s Ayash Kabdolaeva, a female archer. This 51-year old teacher from Eastern Kazakhstan region, who joined this sport later in her life, went viral on social media in Kazakhstan with her emotional reaction to being declared a gold medalist.

“We have just finished the archery competition. There were around 200 participants from 55 countries. Among them, our woman Ayash Kabdolaeva. She won gold medal at the 70 meter distance category. She owes that to her hard work. She prepared for a very long time and practiced a lot and, as a result, Kazakhstan’s bow-woman ended up as the winner,” says Dias Akhmetov, Kazakhstan’s archery team coach for Euronews.

Alysh brought Kazakhstan three bronze medals. Alysh is one of several kinds of wrestling at the Nomad Games. It originates from Kyrgyzstan. In this martial arts sport wrestlers have to hold each other by the belt during the entire game. The aim is to throw your opponent on his back. Or her back because women compete too. The fight lasts for three minutes for both men and women.

Other bronze medals came from:

Mas-wrestling, where competitors, sitting opposite a wooden plank, tug a pole from each other’s hands, ancient tradition of spine bone breaking, sambo, where Sapar Bolat won a gold for Kazakhstan as well and qusbegilik, hunting with birds of pray, where Kazakhstan also won a silver.

The most popular team games in the Nomad Games are Kazakh kokpar and Kyrgyz kok boru equestrian contests of horsemanship and strength. In both sports riders fight for a carcass of a goat (in modern times a weighted dummy) that weighs about 30 kilos. In kokpar the aim is to bring the dummy to the opponents part of the field and drop in in a circle on the ground. In kok boru it is to be thrown into a cauldron. Both games fill the hippodrome with spectators.

In both kokpar and kok boru it is already known that the finals, on the 6th of September will be a traditional duel of the main powerhouses in these games, home team Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. The people travel from other parts of Kyrgyzstan and even from Almaty in neighbouring Kazakhstan to see the finals. The interest of the public is soaring, so much so that the two finals will be the only events in the Games for which tickets will be sold.