National Asyk Atu Championships among school students held in Astana
On the last day of May, the capital of Kazakhstan hosted the National Asyk Atu Championships among the school students born in 2014-2016, Kazinform News Agency reports.
124 children from 16 regions - Almaty, Akmola, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan, Zhambyl, Zhetysu, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, Kostanay, Pavlodar, North Kazakhstan, Turkistan, Ulytau, Abai regions and from Astana, Almaty cities competed in the event.
“We present the national game of our ancestors as a sport. We want children to play asyk atu, and not depend on smartphones and computers. This is the third official championship. Teams from Abai and Akmola regions are participating in this tournament for the first time,” says organizer Zhomart Sabyrzhanov.
According to him, more than 90 thousand people and 1,119 coaches are officially engaged in asyk atu game.
In December 2017, UNESCO included the traditional Kazakh game Asyk Atu on the organisation’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Humanity.
