ASTANA – Two teams of Kazakhstan’s top zhamby atu (horseback archery) athletes are currently 70-80% ready at the third stage of their training camp, with one more stage to go before the fifth World Nomad Games, said Yeldos Badashev, head coach of the national team, the National Sports Association’s press service reported on July 24.
Photo credit: National Sports Association
“Now we are also engaged in sports training of horses. I can name representatives of Mongolia, Arab countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hungary as strong rivals,” Badashev noted.
Yeralkhan Aykoz, a national team member, emphasized the high level of daily preparation and expressed confidence in performing with dignity at the games to defend Kazakhstan’s honor.
The national federation of zhamby atu is part of Kazakhstan’s Association of National Sports, which also includes federations for baige, kokpar, audaryspak (horseback wrestling), sadak atu, kusbegilik (eagle training), asyk atu (a board game with bones of a knee sheep joint), tenge ilu, and joryq at (horse riding). The Association is led by renowned entrepreneur and philanthropist Islambek Salzhanov, chairman of the board of trustees of the Altyn Qyran Foundation.
The Fifth World Nomad Games in Astana will be held from Sept. 8-13 and is expected to welcome over 100,000 people.
