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2nd 'World Nomad Games' underway in Kyrgyzstan

Sunday, 04 September 2016 1:50 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 04 September 2016 1:50 PM ]

Dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the World Nomad Games 2016 at the hippodrome of Cholpon-Ata on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, some 270 kms outside the capital Bishkek, on September 3, 2016. (AFP)

An international competition dedicated to ethnic sports is underway in Kyrgyzstan with some 10,000 people attending the opening ceremony.

The second edition of the World Nomad Games kicked off in the Kyrgyz city of Cholpon-Ata on Saturday. The games gather sport delegations from over 53 countries competing for 111 medals.

The event includes and promotes a wide range of ethnic sports practiced in Central Asia. It includes 23 different sporting competitions ranging from variations of wrestling to mounted games and hunting.

Apart from the actual sport events, the competition is laced with many different cultural activities. According to the Kygryz president who attended the opening ceremony, the event goes beyond sports as it is actually meant to revive and preserve nomadic traditions across the region.

Despite the games’ regional theme, sportspeople from European countries are also expected to participate in the event.

The World Nomad Games were held for the first time in 2014 after a collective effort by the Kyrgyz president and his counterparts from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

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