Sixth World Nomad Games open in the Kyrgyz Republic

The World Nomad Games have returned to the Kyrgyz Republic, where the six-day celebration of traditional nomadic sports is bringing together more than 2,000 delegates from over 100 countries.

The Kyrgyz Republic will host the sixth edition from Aug. 31 to Sept. 6 after Kazakhstan handed over the event’s hosting role. Launched in 2014, the games describe themselves as the only multisport competition devoted entirely to the traditional sports of nomadic peoples.

The competition was created in the Kyrgyz Republic, which hosted its first three editions in Cholpon-Ata. Participation grew from 583 athletes from 19 countries competing in 10 sports in 2014 to more than 3,000 athletes from 102 countries at the 2022 games in Iznik, Türkiye. Kazakhstan hosted the fifth edition in 2024, with about 2,500 athletes from 89 countries competing in 21 sports.

This year’s program combines sport, culture and science. Events include wrestling, bone throwing, falconry, archery and horse racing, disciplines linked to skills traditionally used on the steppe. Several competitions will take place around Lake Issyk-Kul, including races at the hippodrome in Cholpon-Ata.

Horse racing has a prominent place in the program, including alaman baige, a long-distance contest requiring riders to manage their horses’ endurance. A cultural program will feature festivals and an ethnovillage where regions of the Kyrgyz Republic will present crafts, music, dance, rituals and national cuisine. Kazakhstan has also held a qualifying championship in zhorga zharys, a traditional pacing-horse race, with Astana riders taking the top two places in a nine-kilometer event.