Turkmen athletes won 11 medals — 2 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze at the VI World Nomad Games, which concluded in Kyrgyzstan.
Held once every two years, this large-scale international forum is aimed at preserving, reviving and promoting the ethnosport movement and the ethnic and cultural heritage of humanity. Traditionally, it brings together athletes from all over the world.
The initiative to hold the competition was originally put forward by the Kyrgyz Republic, which successfully hosted the Games in Cholpon-Ata in 2014, 2016 and 2018. In 2021, the World Nomad Games were rightfully included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, and later expanded beyond the founding country: the IV Games were held in Iznik, Türkiye, in 2022, while the V World Nomad Games in 2024 were hosted by Astana, Kazakhstan, bringing together around 2,500 athletes from 89 countries who competed in 21 sports.
The sixth edition of the ethnosport festival was held at two venues in Kyrgyzstan: the capital city Bishkek, where the opening ceremony took place, and Cholpon-Ata, which became the main competition arena. The VI Games set a record in terms of participation: 3,000 athletes and representatives from 106 countries competed for medals in 43 disciplines.
The Turkmenistan national team was represented by 7 coaches and 14 athletes, who competed in various disciplines of belt wrestling and national wrestling. In the overall medal standings, the Turkmen team ranked 7th, while athletes from 29 countries became medal winners.
The performance at the VI World Nomad Games demonstrated significant progress by the national team. At the previous Games in Astana, Turkmen athletes won 4 medals — 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze. Throughout the history of the World Nomad Games, athletes from Turkmenistan have won a total of 96 medals: 37 gold, 19 silver and 40 bronze.
During the closing ceremony of the competition at the Cholpon-Ata hippodrome, the hosting rights for the next, VII World Nomad Games in 2028, were officially handed over. The future competitions will be held in Kazan (Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation).
«THE ASHGABAT TIMES».
