NOV. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — En route to the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, next year, the Olympic torch touched down from space in Kazakhstan. A Russian space rocket had flown the Olympic torch to the International Space Station from Russia’s launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, as part of the pre-Games relay.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
NOV. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nine Kazakh weightlifters have tested positive for doping, media quoted the International Weightlifting Federations (IWF) as saying. The findings are an embarrassment to Kazakhstan which wants to promote its prowess in the sport. At the 2012 Olympics, Kazakhstan won four gold medals in weightlifting.
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have worsened over the past couple of years. The two neighbours have rowed over alleged spy rings, ties with Israel, assassination attempts and cross border shootouts.
Over the last couple of months, with the arrival of new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, there has been something of a thaw. He’s been more open to improving strained international relations than his predecessor.
Now, though, a fresh and bitter row has opened up on an unlikely front. Polo, a sport played by kings and the super-rich on horseback, has generated a fierce argument between Iran and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan has applied to Unesco to have polo listed as an indigenous sport. They have said that polo derived in the country. Iran disagrees.
“We will tell Unesco that the traditional game is a common element that should not be registered exclusively in the name of a single country,” official Iranian media quoted the deputy head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation, Mehdi Hojjat, as saying.
Art dating back 500 years from ancient Persia shows men clearly enjoying a game of polo. They ride horses and hit balls with long sticks.
For Azerbaijan to claim it as theirs is a remarkable power play.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has asked UNESCO to list polo as its indigenous sport, triggering a row with Iran, media reported. Relations between the two neighbours have worsened over the past couple of years although there had recently been an improvement under new Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian government said it may withdraw its team from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia after a Russian soldier who fought in the 2008 against Georgia was named as one of the torch bearers. Georgia had said it wouldn’t send a team to Sochi but the government of PM Bidzina Ivanishvili reversed this.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nine national teams from Mongolia, Afghanistan, Turkey, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan convened on Astana to compete in what was touted as the first Asian kokpar championships.
Kokpar, also known as Buzkashi in Afghanistan where it is popular, is not for the feint hearted. Described as a mixture of rugby and polo, four horsemen on each team have to hustle, bustle and muscle the torso of a headless goat into the opposition’s goal.
The best players have to be tough, determined and extremely skilful horsemen.
Kokpar’s historical heartland has been the steppe and mountains of Central Asia, Afghanistan and Mongolia where nomadic horsemen still roam with their livestock. The game reflects the simplicity and hardiness of the nomad’s lives.
Watching European Champions League football on satellite television may now be the favourite sporting pastime of most urban Kazakhs but skilled horsemen and the nomadic lifestyle are still venerated in Kazakhstan.
The Soviet Union banned kokpar but a confident and proud Kazakhstan looking to promote its national identity has been eager to revive it.
Fittingly, in the tournament in Astana, the Kazakhstan team beat Kyrgyzstan in the final. Third place was Tajikistan. Kazakhstan will have a chance to defend their title in Turkey in two years time.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has applied to host matches at the 2020 European football championships, media reported. Last year European football’s governing body, UEFA, announced that several cities will host matches for Euro 2020, one of the biggest football tournaments in the world. Baku is building a 68,000-seat stadium.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In front of thousands of fans at the national stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan’s football team lost to Jordan in a penalty shootout in the second match of their World Cup playoff tie. The match had ended 1-1. Uzbekistan had been trying to become the first team from Central Asia to reach the World Cup finals.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
AUG. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) –Kazakh football team Shakhter Karagandy narrowly missed out on becoming the first side from Kazakhstan to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stages after losing 3-0 in Glasgow, Scotland, to Celtic. Shakhter Karagandy had beaten Celtic 2-0 in the first leg of the tie a week earlier in Astana.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Showing off its global sporting ambitions, Kazakhstan has registered Almaty with the International Olympic Committee as a potential candidate to host the 2022 Winter Games, AP reported. Almaty hosted the Asian Winter Games in 2011. It previously failed in a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
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(News report from Issue No. 149, published on Aug. 26 2013)