During the visit, the UNESCO delegation attended the II Asian Tenge Ilu Championship and the III Asian Audaryspak Championship.
Representatives of UNESCO made a special visit to Kazakhstan. The primary purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the level of organization, communications, and the level of interest of fans in Kazakhstan in hosting the very first worldwide Traditional Games, which are scheduled to be held in 2021.
The travel party included the Chairman of the Committee on Traditional Sports and Games Khalil, Ahmed Khan; Mr. Marcellin Dally, Programme Specialist and Secretary, International Anti-Doping Convention Sector for Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO; and Shammi K Rana, Rapporteur Traditional Sports and Games, UNESCO.
Letter signing ceremony
During the visit, a Letter of Intent was signed by the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Association of National Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, UNESCO Traditional Sports and Games.
The letter stated that the UNESCO Committee on Traditional Sports and Games has a project to organize the first Worldwide Traditional Games in 2021. For its part, Kazakhstan intends to support this sports event.
Chairman Khan thanked Kazakhstani colleagues for their hospitality and congratulated them on success in developing their country’s national sports. He also said that Kazakhstan has a chance to host the Traditional Games in 2021. “We have observed a great desire of the Kazakh side to host the first Worldwide Traditional Games under the auspices of UNESCO. In my point of view, the Kazakhstani bid has a good chance,” Khan told the hosts.
Attending sports events in Astana
In his turn, Arystanbek Mukhamediuly, Minister of Culture and Sports of the Republic, expressed gratitude to UNESCO for helping his country develop national sports in his country. “In 2017, 343,000 people were engaged in national sports. Seven specialized sports clubs and ten specialized sports schools operate in the country.”
During its visit, the UNESCO delegation had an opportunity to see traditional sports in action. The group attended the II Asian Tenge Ilu Championship and the III Asian Audaryspak Championship, which were being held in Astana.
Nine Asian countries participated in those events. Tenge Ilu is a national Kazakh sports game that requires athletes to pick up coins from the ground as horses gallop at full speed. Audaryspak is horseback wrestling.
