Is the kok-boru (goat-cutting) tournament at the CMI legal?

The author of the photo here and below: Alexander Zabegin

What was that?

On the pictures Alexandra Zabegina – held on February 24 at the CMI tournament on kok-boru in honor of the celebration of Defender of the Fatherland Day.

Kok-boru (goat-cutting) is an equestrian sport game popular among the peoples of Asia, according to the rules of which two teams on horseback fight for the carcass of a goat. It is necessary to take possession of the carcass, hold it and throw it into the “cauldron” (gate) of the opponent’s team.

Since 2001 there has been International Federation “Kok-boru”. Its founders were Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. After joined China, Russia and Afghanistan.

In 2019, Russia has its own kok-boru union. Two days before the tournament, its president, Kristina Karamysheva, gave an interview to the channel Horse World TV.

This discipline is included in the program World Nomad Games, international competitions in ethnic sports. And in November 2019, the first ever kok-boru world championship.

The Central Moscow Hippodrome hosted such a tournament for the first time. Organizer of the competition and president of the profile federation of the Kyrgyz Republic Jyrgalbek Samatov в interview Sputnik Kyrgyzstan noted that: “The Moscow hippodrome could not accommodate everyone who wanted to watch the tournament.” А Association “Commonwealth of trotting horse breeding of Russia” on her Facebook page she published a post about the record attendance of the hippodrome that day (the post was deleted, but the editors have a screenshot).

Welcoming speech before the start of the game was delivered by the Director General of the CMI Nikolai Vasilyevich Isakov and Chairman of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia and Eurasia Svetlana Konstantinova.

The tournament was broadcast online on the official Youtube channel CMI. Efir is saved, and it can be view in full (timing: from 4:51:00).

Despite the demonstration of cruelty, anyone could see the game, the age limit was set 0+, children under 6 years old could enter the event for free.

A small subtotal

Kok-boru is a traditional game of the peoples of Asia, with its own international federation and set of rules. Competitions are held regularly and have tremendous popularity among different segments of the population. So, for example, the day before the events described, the same tournament was held in Bishkek. Participated in the battle for the carcass of a goat deputies of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, deputies of the government, the team of the State Agency for Youth Affairs, Physical Culture and Sports and media representatives.

However, the photos from the tournament are clear signs of horse abuse. For those involved in equestrian sports (especially against the background of the tightening of the FEI rules regarding the detection of blood on the body of a horse), the footage from the Central Moscow Hippodrome (!) looks really wild.

In fact, an appeal was filed to the head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation A.I. Bastrykin.

Appeared on Change.org petition for the ban on kok-boru.

We’ve reached out for a comment. к Ivanchenkova Tatiana Alexandrovna, to the director marketing, advertising and organization of events of JSC Russian Hippodromes. By the time the article was published, our request remained unanswered, but a statement from Rosippodromy JSC appeared on the CMI Instagram: