8 yıl önce

Second World Nomad Games alive with colour and history

The Olympic games can stand aside. Here comes the World Nomad Games 2016.

Staff Reporter

TRT World and Agencies

Kazakh and US (red) riders play the traditional Central Asian sport Buzkashi also known as Kok-Boru or Oglak Tartis during the World Nomad Games 2016 in Cholpon-Ata on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, some 270 kms outside the capital Bishkek, on September 6.

The Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan is hosting the World Nomad Games, a competition where polo players ditch their mallets and try to catch a dead goat instead.

The Games, which opened on Saturday on a picturesque mountain plain in eastern Kyrgyzstan, bring together athletes from 40 countries including Russia and the United States where nomadic traditions are strong.

The World Nomad Games features such unorthodox sports disciplines as eagle-hunting and bone-throwing.

Incredible traditional clothing on display at the World Nomad Games! #DiscoverKyrgyzstan #fashion pic.twitter.com/emCXvBPfmU
— Laurel Robbins (@Laurel_Robbins) September 6, 2016

Arguably the highlight of the games is the horse-riding competition, called Kok-boru, which dates back to when men used to hunt wolves that preyed on their livestock. Fierce competition is also expected in "stick wrestling," an event in which two competitors try to gain control of a small stick.

Putting Katniss to shame at the World Nomad Games https://t.co/RZIiTnqTkA @siobhan_ogrady pic.twitter.com/dE0tlQy9r7
— Melody Schreiber (@m_scribe) September 6, 2016

Among the spectators has been American action-movie actor Steven Seagal, who claims part-Mongol ancestry.

AP

In this photo taken on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, U.S. actor Steven Seagal rides a horse during the opening ceremony of the second World Nomad Games at Issyk Kul lake in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan.

"I was lucky to visit friends, who gave me, as a special guest, the head of a ram to try, and then I was able to try horse that was cooked for me. It's fantastic," Seagal was quoted as saying by the state news agency Kabar. "This is what I eat and what I like."

Barbara Ornelas, of the Native American Navajo tribe, said she sees a connection between nomadic peoples.

"There is only one difference between the people of Kyrgyzstan and my people — it is the language," she said, according to Kabar.