Horseback wrestling, dead goat polo: World Nomad Games a shot in the arm for anyone bored of the Olympics
Event that preserves traditional sports played by Turkic nomadic peoples kicks off its third edition in Kyrgyzstan featuring more than 40 sports contested by athletes from dozens of countries
The picturesque Kyrchyn gorge in Kyrgyzstan was awash with colour this week as dancers and horse riders entertained international and local guests of the World Nomad Games.
Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished former Soviet republic, has promoted the games as a way of preserving traditional sports – most of which were played by Turkic nomadic peoples over the centuries – while boosting its fledgling tourism sector.
The games, held near the shores of the country’s Lake Issyk-Kul, feature more than 40 sports contested by hundreds of athletes from dozens of countries, with Kyrgyzstan’s Central Asian neighbours and Russia tending to send the largest teams.
Kyrgyzstan is handing the games over to Turkey for 2020, which has saddened some in the country but relieved others, given the tens of millions of dollars poured into the event in the last four years.
Talgat Soodakov, a sportsman who will compete later this week in a polo-like game played on horses with a headless goat carcass for a ball, said he could not be certain he would be able to compete at the games in Turkey.
“Still, it will be interesting to see how another country organises the games,” he said.