Yesterday, the Fifth World Nomad Games was officially opened in Astana. Three thousand artists participated in the event, which took place at the Astana Arena stadium.

According to the program, spectators first watched the traditional procession of representatives of participating countries across the square for major sporting events. Spectators greeted the Uzbekistan athletes who walked along the stands.

The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev addressed the event and officially opened the games. Then, the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Fifth World Nomad Games Roman Sklyar and the President of the World Ethnosport Confederation Bilal Erdoğan delivered speeches.

The opening ceremony was attended by high-ranking guests – the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Rais of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Zhaparov.

As part of these competitions, teams will test their strength on the best sports grounds of Astana in 21 sports. In particular, they will have to compete for victory in horse racing, kurash, traditional intellectual games, martial arts, shooting, falconry, equestrian sports, and folk games.

The organizers have arranged a special ethnographic village, “World of Nomads”, on 10 hectares, where visitors can get acquainted with nomadic peoples’ culture, particularly the rich heritage of the Kazakh people.

About 2,800 representatives from 89 countries have registered to participate in the Fifth World Nomad Games, which will run until September 13. They will compete for 97 sets of medals.

Guzal Sattorova, UzA