World Nomad Games Return Home as Kyrgyzstan Welcomes World Leaders

Few periods since independence have put Kyrgyzstan so squarely in the international spotlight. On August 31, the country marked 35 years of independence, opened the sixth World Nomad Games, and prepared to host a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that has brought more than a dozen foreign leaders to Bishkek. The Games themselves were back where they began. Kyrgyzstan launched the World Nomad Games in 2014 and staged the first three editions at Cholpon Ata before the event moved to Turkey in 2022 and Kazakhstan in 2024. This year's Games run through September 6, with The Times of Central Asia reporting from Bishkek and Issyk-Kul throughout the week in our special coverage. The opening took place at the new Bishkek Arena, rising out of the dust on the southwestern edge of the capital near the foothills of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range. Around 30,000 spectators attended the ceremony. The stadium will eventually hold more than 51,000, but it is not formally due to open until October 5. The Games opened while work on the arena was still underway, with parts of the building still looking unfinished. In the weeks before the ceremony, horses had circled the arena floor during rehearsals while drilling continued around them. By the time the spectators arrived, the construction site had become the biggest show in town. Before the politics and pageantry, there was pop. Kyrgyzstan put many of its best-known performers on stage in a concert that at times had a distinctly Eurovision feel. Energetic hosts introduced a succession of singers and rappers while tightly choreographed dancers moved between traditional dress and contemporary styling. The lineup included Bayastan, Malika Dina, Erlan Andashev, Begish, and others, but veteran singer Baktiyar Toktorov received the loudest reaction. When he launched into "Yza," known almost universally by its "Bui-Bui" refrain, spectators rose from their seats and sang with him. Even some of the security guards joined in. The refrain does not demand many words, but almost everybody in the arena seemed to know them. The new stadium also showed some early teething problems, with concession stands running out of bottled water and food as crowds built. After the concert, the momentum disappeared. The audience waited for around 90 minutes while footage of arriving dignitaries played on the giant screens. The reason for the pause soon became clear, as one motorcade after another delivered guests for the formal ceremony. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko were among those in the stands. The presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan also attended, along with leaders and senior officials from elsewhere in Asia, the Caucasus, and Africa. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was among the international guests. One expected heavyweight was missing. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in Bishkek for a state visit and the SCO summit, had been due to attend the opening. Presidential spokesman Askat Alagozov said Xi had stayed away because of the deadly flooding and landslides in...

Kok Boru and the Art of Being Noticed: The World Nomad Games as Kyrgyzstan’s Calling Card

A stampede throws up a great wall of dust as a scrum of white, sweating stallions tears past. A roar rises from the stands. With horsemen in hot pursuit, a rider bursts from the pack, swinging a 30-kilo plastic simulation of a goat carcass. As they charge toward the goal, the horses bare their teeth. This is the spectacle awaiting travelers from far and wide at this year’s World Nomad Games. For Kyrgyzstan, the Games are a source of pride. Born beside Lake Issyk-Kul, twelve years on, the sixth edition will see 100,000 visitors descend on a town of 13,000. The timing in 2026 makes the aspiration hard to ignore. The opening ceremony falls on Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day, while leaders are also gathering in Bishkek for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Presidential spokesman Askat Alagozov has said 21 heads of state are expected. The Games will open before many of them in the new 51,000-seat Bishkek Arena. [caption id="attachment_54493" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Image: International Secretariat of the World Nomad Games[/caption] Kyrgyzstan has spent more than a decade building toward this goal. The initiative was approved at the Turkic Council summit in Bishkek in 2012 before the first Games were staged in Cholpon Ata in 2014. Then, there were 583 athletes from 19 countries. Kyrgyzstan hosted again in 2016 and 2018, before the event moved to Turkey in 2022 and Kazakhstan in 2024. That decision could have diluted Kyrgyzstan’s ownership. Instead, each foreign edition strengthened the identity of the event Kyrgyzstan had started. In December 2025, founder Askhat Akibaev transferred the intellectual property rights to the Kyrgyz state. Cabinet Chairman Adylbek Kasymaliev called the Games “the flagship of our state’s cultural diplomacy.” Akibaev explained the achievement succinctly after the first three editions. “We proved to ourselves and the world that a small country can do something global,” he told RFE/RL. Kyrgyzstan cannot match major powers through stadium budgets or international sports leagues, but the Games have given it access to an audience money alone could not buy. The cultural case has also gained international recognition. In 2021, UNESCO selected “Nomad games, rediscovering heritage, celebrating diversity” for its Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. The program was praised for reviving traditional games and passing knowledge to younger generations, while bonding contestants across borders. [caption id="attachment_54490" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Image: International Secretariat of the World Nomad Games[/caption] The numbers tell their own story. Astana brought together 2,500 athletes from 89 countries in 2024. This year, around 3,000 athletes are registered from 113 countries for 43 sports. Local organizers say the field now reaches far beyond states with a direct nomadic heritage, with newcomers expected from New Zealand and several African countries. Team GB offers one of the clearest examples. Britain competed in Astana in 2024, and is returning with a larger contingent. The team has expanded beyond tug-of-war and intellectual games into horseback archery and wrestling. The sole British competitor in the Alysh wrestling will be The Times of Central Asia contributor, Jonathan Campion. The British...