In a melee of hooves and hands, a scrum of horse riders on the plains of Central Asia wrestle to get control of the ball — or in this case the carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat.
After several minutes of shrieks and equine snorts, a rider from ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan’s national team emerges clutching the carcass, triggering a frantic pursuit.
The game — called kok-boru (“gray wolf”) in Kyrgyzstan and buzkashi (“goat grabbing”) in Afghanistan — is a warm-up for the second edition of the World Nomad Games to be held in September.
Photo: AFP
Organizers say the Games — first staged by impoverished Kyrgyzstan in 2014 — are aimed at boosting nomadic traditions threatened by globalization and should draw competitors from about 40 countries this year.
Events include age-old versions of wrestling, hunting and horse racing and of course the eye-catching kok-boru.
“Some might say this is a cruel type of sport, but for us, it is something national, something that is ours,” Kyrgyz player Temir Moldokulov, 31, said of the sport, likened by some to an ultra-violent version of polo.
“At the Games we will be representing not just our country, but our ancestors,” he said.
PRESERVING CULTURE
For a poor country like Kyrgyzstan that has faced two revolutions and oscillated between democracy and authoritarianism in its 25 years of independence, the Nomad Games have become a point of national pride.
This time round the number of nations sending competitors for the two-week event beginning on Saturday on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul has nearly doubled since the first Games two years ago.
The state has already released special edition coins and stamps to commemorate the Games, whose logo is being worn on custom-made broaches by state television presenters.
Organizers cite a mission to “revive and preserve the culture, identity and ways of life of nomadic peoples in the era of globalization,” but many have aired concerns about cost overruns.
Recently the cash-strapped government admitted that the cost of rebuilding the stadium where many events will take place had ballooned from about US$7 million at the start of the year to more than US$16 million.
World Nomad Games secretariat head Nurdin Sultambayev said the event is part of a “long journey” and that the government would claw back its investment in future tourism revenues.
“This is a brand that can take our country forward,” Sultambayev said, adding that some expenses would be met by sponsors including Russian energy firm Gazprom, while declining to state the Games’ total cost.
COMPELLING SPECTACLE
The Games will not stay in Kyrgyzstan forever — Turkey is to host the 2018 version — but traditionalists are optimistic that the buzz they create can help tweak sporting tastes in the country.
Overlooking a mixed training session for Kyrgyzstan’s national team of mas-wrestling — a stick-pulling competition whose origins can be traced to Russia’s Turkic-speaking Yakutia Province — coach Talaibek Janybayev said sports such as his can be “unifying.”
“This is not boxing or wrestling, no one is beating anyone up,” Janybayev said. “There is just a 50cm stick and simple competition — who is stronger? What is more, it is a very economical form of sport to develop.”
Watched up close in a sweaty gym in the capital Bishkek, a mas-wrestling duel — full of grunts and often lasting less than a minute — is a compelling spectacle.
However, when the Games begin it will likely be overshadowed by sports like er enish (“wrestling on horseback”) and kok-boru, cheered on by locals as well as curious foreign tourists, among them Hollywood action man Steven Seagal.
“The competition last time was weaker,” said Moldokulov, who took part in the 2014 kok-boru tournament that saw Kyrgyzstan’s national side win the final.
“Tajikistan, China ... these were fairly competitive teams,” he said. “But this year, Kazakhstan will send a kok-boru team for the first time. That will be real competition for us.”
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