The VI World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan ended in a scandal

The VI World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan, held from August 31 to September 6, ended in a scandal. This is reported by qumash.kz .

After the end of the competition, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan published its data: the national team won 74 medals (32 gold, 20 silver and 22 bronze) and took first place. The department stressed that they had double-checked all sets of awards.

However, the organizers of the Games published their table. Kyrgyzstan took the first place in it (30 gold medals), and Kazakhstan moved to the second place — but with 29 gold awards.

After that, an uproar arose in social networks and the media: people wondered where the three gold medals of Kazakhstan had "gone" and demanded transparent explanations. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the publication in the official account of the Games on the social network was then deleted, then returned again, and later the summary medal standings disappeared from the official website of the competition.

In response to the outcry, the organizers said: the final medal standings will appear only after the Games secretariat collects and checks all the final protocols. The State Agency of Physical Culture and Sports of Kyrgyzstan went further and issued an official statement. It emphasizes that the concept of the World Nomad Games does not provide for the official medal and team standings between countries at all. The purpose of the competition is to popularize ethnosports and strengthen cultural ties, and not in the rivalry of states for a place in the ranking.

As a result, the organizers postponed the publication of the final table until the secretariat reconciles the data, and the official position of the Kyrgyz side reduced the dispute to the fact that the team rating is not, in principle, the goal of the Games.

It should be recalled that the last World Nomad Games held in Kazakhstan were also overshadowed by a scandal. It broke out at the final cockpar match between the teams of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on September 12, 2024 at the Kazanat racetrack in Astana.

Kyrgyzstan won 3:1 when the player of the national team of Kazakhstan Ulan Baitoreev twice hit the Kyrgyz cockpit Kubanychbek Sultan uulu with a whip. A scuffle began, the police entered the field, and the match was interrupted for about half an hour.

The national team of Kyrgyzstan refused to continue the game until Baitoreev was removed. As a result, he was punished — removal for two minutes. After that, the match resumed. But after the break, the game was already different: Kazakhstan won with a score of 5:4.

The Kazakh side then explained that Baitoreev was provoked by obscene language from a Kyrgyz player.

At the medal ceremony, which was held by the Minister of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan, Yerbol Myrzabosynov, Kyrgyz athletes accepted silver medals and immediately took them off. They defiantly left the pedestal, raising the flag of their country.

The kok-boru Federation (kokpara) of Kyrgyzstan filed a protest against the result of the final, believing that their team was sued.

The chief judge of the cockpit Tastanbek Esentaev threatened Kyrgyzstanis with disqualification for up to three years for demarche on the podium.

On September 16, the kok-boru Federation of Kyrgyzstan offered the national team of Kazakhstan a rematch, but with other judges.

Note that in Astana, and in In Bishkek, emotions turned out to be stronger than the idea of cultural unity of nomadic peoples. In 2024, the conflict broke out around refereeing and behavior on the field, in 2026 - around the medal standings and organization. But the essence is the same: competitive excitement prevails over the declared spirit of the Games. And in both cases, the epicenter of tension was the confrontation between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan — the strongest teams in national equestrian sports.