Kyrgyzstan Beats United States 16-7 as Kok Boru Opens at World Nomad Games
Two years after Kazakhstan beat Team USA in Astana, the Americans again faced a World Nomad Games host in kok boru. Kyrgyzstan won 16–7 at the Cholpon-Ata Kok Boru Arena on Wednesday, but the U.S. riders were a markedly different proposition from the side that failed to score in 2024. Kok boru, whose name means “gray wolf,” occupies a special place in Kyrgyz culture. UNESCO added it to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017, recognizing its place in the country’s cultural identity, while the arena commentator repeatedly described the sport as a point of national pride. Tradition traces the game to mounted hunters fighting for possession of a wolf killed while protecting livestock, an old practice later developed into a team contest. The modern game uses a prepared headless goat carcass, which a rider must carry across the field and get into the opposing tai kazan, the raised circular goal at either end. Kyrgyzstan restored the real carcass for these Games after Kazakhstan used a synthetic rubber serke in Astana, making the object’s weight and bulk unmistakable whenever a rider leaned almost to the sand to seize it. Under the current rules, four riders from each team compete on the field during three 15-minute periods. The carcass normally weighs 30–32 kilograms, and although riders may press one another with their bodies or use their horses to nudge for position, striking is prohibited. [video width="848" height="478" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/WhatsApp-Video-2026-09-02-at-21.55.39.mp4"][/video] Team USA started strongly, trading scores with Kyrgyzstan early and holding its own in the scrums for possession. Horses pressed flank to flank in what could look like an impossible embrace as riders bent low into the crush. When one came free with the goat held against the saddle, the tangle opened immediately into a gallop toward the tai kazan. Nurzhan Melisbek uulu opened the scoring for Kyrgyzstan after just 23 seconds, but Team USA answered and kept the opening exchanges close. By the middle of the first period, Kyrgyzstan had begun finding more openings and closed it 7–2. During the first break, Ennio Morricone’s theme from Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars played over the speakers in what appeared to be a nod to the American cowboys. The Americans returned to the field with renewed energy and scored almost immediately, with the board soon showing 8–3. Kyrgyzstan did not loosen its grip for long, but neither did the second period become the one-way procession seen in Astana. The hosts added five points to the Americans’ three, taking the cumulative score to 12–5. During the second period, U.S. No. 33 Zanen Pitts fell from his horse but quickly recovered. No. 2 Nick Willert was also back with Team USA, two years after explaining in a 2024 interview with The Times of Central Asia that the Americans combined techniques learned from Central Asian players with Western horsemanship. Finding suitable horses and having enough time to become familiar with them, he said, had always been a major difficulty for the team. Kyrgyzstan controlled...
