The World Nomad Games opened in Bishkek on Thursday, drawing delegations from more than 100 countries and 21 heads of state, including the leaders of China, India and Russia, who were attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and its presidential session in the Kyrgyz capital.
The SCO summit brought together Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among other heads of state, giving the games a high-profile international audience.
The games, often called the "nomadic Olympics," were first held in Kyrgyzstan in 2014. The United Nations has since recognised them as a platform for intercultural dialogue and sustainable development.
This year's edition, which opened on Kyrgyzstan's independence day, features 43 disciplines spanning ancient sports and traditional intellectual contests, most rooted in the cultures of the Central Asian steppe, where they served both as military training and as social events where young men could demonstrate strength, skill and endurance.
Equestrian competitions form the heart of the programme. Races run to six, ten and eleven kilometres — distance valued over speed in Central Asian horse culture, where breeds are prized for their capacity to cover vast ground in a single day.
