Astana, Kazakhstan – Clouds of mud rise from the sandy floor of a taking part in subject as a dozen horses converge, their riders standing of their stirrups as they direct their mounts in direction of an odd goal: the headless and disembowelled carcass of a goat laying within the mud.
From what seems as a multi-legged, rotating creature of hooves, tails, heads and human fists, one rider manages to raise and hoist the carcass beneath his leg, dashing in direction of the purpose with two groups of seven horsemen chasing him from all sides – some to guard him, others to thwart him, no matter the price. The danger of damaged fingers and jaws is all too actual.
This isn’t a film however a sport of kokpar, a horseback sport recognized and performed throughout Central Asia, and an exhilarating climax to this yr’s version of the Fifth World Nomad Video games that concluded on September 13.
Held within the futuristic Kazakh capital of Astana, the fifth version of the World Nomad Video games is a celebration of the game, tradition and unity of the nomadic peoples of Asia’s Turkic nations.
The bi-annual occasion began 10 years in the past in Cholpon Ata in Kyrgyzstan, with 30 nations taking part, after former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev steered the video games could be a great way to showcase the area’s tradition in an period of fast-paced globalisation.
“We’re the descendants of sensible and courageous nomads who had been in a position to protect their distinctive identification and gave us the civilisation of the Nice Steppe,” Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated on the grand opening of the video games on September 8. “Our widespread obligation is to cherish this sacred heritage and to move it on to future generations.”
Tokayev also addressed the suffering in other parts of the world, especially in Gaza, while emphasising the games’ role in strengthening friendships among nations, much in the same way as the recently concluded Olympics.
In the same way that France used the Olympics to showcase Paris and French culture to the world, so Kazakhstan used its first time hosting the World Nomad Games to showcase the origins of the Kazakh steppes, symbolising the peaceful interconnections of past nomadic empires beneath a traditional nomadic yurt.
‘Three games of men’
This year’s event, the first held in Kazakhstan, was possibly the largest to date, featuring more than 2,000 athletes from 89 countries ranging from Angola to Argentina, Hungary to Sweden, and Turkmenistan to Zimbabwe.
They all came together to participate in 21 traditional games that have their roots in the “three games of men” (archery, wrestling and horse racing), which testify to the skills of the peoples who ruled the steppes of inner Asia for thousands of years, from Silk Road traders to the Golden Horde that preceded the 15th century Kazakh Khanate.
Besides kokpar, some of the most interesting games were audaryspak, a horseback wrestling competition where a sportsman must wrestle his opponent from his horse, and kusbegilik, a hunting game with birds of prey (majestic golden eagles, falcons and hawks) whose flight speed is assessed by launching them on a lure or counting how long it takes the bird to reach a bait in its owner’s hand.
There have been additionally a number of completely different types of wrestling, such because the native Qazak Quresi and Kurash, completely carried out in standing place, in addition to the Highly effective Nomad Strongman Competitors, which included weight lifting, javelin throwing challenges and pulling a 200kg (440-pound) bullock cart by bare hand and muscle.
The video games additionally went past sport to incorporate technique similar to Togyzkumalak, a board sport wherein a participant wins by accumulating the best variety of stones, and reside performances of aitys, Kazakh and Kyrgyz folk-orientated improvised music and poetry duels which turned a part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2015.
Kazakhstan gained the video games with a complete of 112 medals, together with 43 golds, adopted by Kyrgyzstan with 65 medals and Russia with 49, however there have been loads of surprises.
Betty Vuk, an Italian feminine judo fighter and member of Italy’s Qazak Quresi Basis, secured Italy’s solely gold medal, and first within the Nomad Video games, in conventional Kazakh wrestling.
Different successful nations included Hungary – which gained eight medals, together with one gold, surpassing Turkey, India, China and Turkmenistan – and Romania, Poland, Moldova, France and Australia, underlining the rising attraction of conventional Central Asian video games and martial arts world wide.
Whereas the 2026 version will return to Kyrgyzstan, future video games might happen far past the steppe.
“Perhaps in 2030 or 2032, it’ll be attainable to host the World Nomad Video games in North America as a result of we have now widespread floor there. […] Our geography ought to broaden and grow to be a world mission with wider consideration,” Kazakhstan’s vice-minister of Tourism and Sports activities, Zharasbayev Serik Maratovich informed the media. “We wish to popularise our video games and ask anybody to assist unfold the phrase.”
Again on the kokpar subject, the goat was made from rubber, however a lifeless animal is the norm in a sport that has barely completely different guidelines and names relying on the place it’s performed.
It was Kazakhstan that emerged because the eventual winners of the kokpar match, taking residence the gold forward of Kyrgyzstan.
