In Almaty the festival of national sports "Uly dala oiyndary " is taking place at the central hippodrome

The Almaty city’s governor B. Baibek mentioned in his welcoming address that in the article of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev "A look into the future: modernization of public consciousness" has paid much attention to the preservation of own culture and own national code. In last two years 5 aityses were in Almaty, including a festival of akyns "Altyn dombyra". A theater of traditional art "Alatau", a multimedia center of traditional music, a new center of craftsmen, and a museum of thousand-year history of Almaty were opened.

"Thanks to the profound policy of the Head of State, the once forgotten national sport types and the Kazakhs’ cultural - spiritual heritage have been regenerating since the day of independence. National sports such as kokpar, kures, zhamby atu, and audaryspak and the others are become more and more popular. Until the end of this year 89 races (baige) will be held with a prize fund of 80 million tenge at the Almaty hippodrome. The championship on Kazak kuresi "Almaty Barys" and "Yelem Barys" will also be a great present for sport’s fans in our city" said B. Baibek.

In turn, the president of the Association of National Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bekbolat Tleukhan stressed that today Almaty has become the sports and the spiritual center of the country where competitions are regularly held on national sports.

"National sport is our property which has been left for us by our ancestors, what we can represent for all over the world. In last years, national sports are not only actively developing in Kazakhstan, but also in abroad. Therefore it strengthens the image of our country. A vivid example is the organizing of the World Kokpar Cup in the framework of EXPO-2017,"  B.Tulekhan said.

Athletes contest in 12 types of sports in the republican festival "Uly dala oiyndary", including Tai zharys for 4 km, kunan baige for 7 km, top byge at 13 km, smooth jumps, alaman baige for 21 km, kpar, audaryspa, tenge і lu, tozyzkumalak, asyk atu, zamby atu, Kazakh kures. The prize fund has been 24 millions tenge in this year.

In addition to the main games, the festival visitors have seen an exhibition of hunting birds, a demonstration of hunting dogs, a fair of handicrafts and an applied art.

We remind you that the festival has been held for the second year at the Almaty hippodrome, which was founded in 1930. It has been a famous place for the horse racing community of the country. In recent years the area in Almaty's Zhetysu district has not been functioning for several reasons. In 2016, by the support of the city authorities the hippodrome celebrated its renaissance by making the first festival of national horse sports dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the 1000th anniversary of Almaty. Today it is one of the top five hippodromes in the CIS and it is one of the best in Central Asia.