Last Friday in Almaty, a historic moment unfolded: at the debut media tournament in horse wrestling, the Qasqyr Cup, women faced off for the first time, reports infohub.kz.
In the audaryspak competition, fighter Zamzagul Faizollanova, known as Bopai, and Gulmaral Yerkebayeva, nicknamed Tomiris, mounted horses. Notably, both serve in law enforcement agencies — the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Yerkebayeva is a senior lieutenant in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while Faizollanova holds the rank of captain and represents the sports committee of the Central Sports Club of the Army of the Ministry of Defense.
Audaryspak is traditionally considered a masculine and tough sport. Previously, the women had clashed multiple times on the mats in Kazakh kuresi and freestyle wrestling, where their head-to-head record was even.
Yerkebayeva won this bout. In the final seconds, she managed to pull her opponent off her horse.
"Even though we had ridden horses before, it turns out that to fight in the saddle, you need spirit. On one hand, you have to control the horse, and on the other, fight the person. Strength is not in the power of the arms, but in the heart. We showed the spirit and character of Kazakh girls," Yerkebayeva said.
According to her, the women began preparing for the tournament shortly before the competition.
The Qasqyr Cup tournament itself took place on October 2. It was organized to popularize audaryspak among a wide audience. The vibrant show brought together the elite of the country's blogger and acting community.
Tournament winner and head of the Asar-Ume foundation, Askhat Nurmashev, during the event, handed over the keys to a new home to a needy large family from Talgar.
The organizers thanked those gathered for supporting the national sport and announced plans to continue the Qasqyr Cup. In the future, the competitions may be held in large stadiums.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle wrote that the first audaryspak tournament, Qasqyr Cup, was held in Almaty, with participants including bloggers, artists, and media personalities. One of the most unexpected moments of the competition was the victory of participant Muhammad from Nigeria.