Postcard from Bishkek

Somebody brought me the CV the other day.  He was looking for a job and doing the rounds of potential employers looking to see if anyone had any suitable vacancies.    Unfortunately, at the moment we don’t have any vacancies, but all the same I met with him and went through the CV.

It was much the same as any CV.  There were the usual personal details, (name, age, nationality, marital status and contact details), education and work experience and a section on personal characteristics and interests.  This one didn’t include “listening to music” or “reading books” but did include “sport”, so I asked “What sport?”  The answer came back, “Sambo.”

I think he was a bit surprised because I knew what Sambo was … not many Westerners have heard of it, but it has been in the news because Vladimir Vladimirovich, (Putin – Russia’s Action Man Prime Minister and former President), is keen on the sport as well as being a Judo black belt.

For the Record: Sambo - the word is an acronym from the Russian  SAMozashchita Bez Oruzhiya, or Self Defence without Weapons -  used for a relatively modern martial art, combat sport and self-defense system based on Judo an a number of other traditional martial arts, which was developed in the Soviet Union and recognized as an official sport by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee in 1938.  Amongst the skilled aficionados of the sport is Vladimir Putin.  In 2009 the Kyrgyz sportsman Abakir Rysov won a gold medal at the World Championships which featured competitors from the United States, Denmark, France and Germany as well as countries from the former Soviet Union.

According to several websites, Kyrgyzstan has “traditionally been strong in wrestling and boxing”.  

This may not be surprising – the Kyrgyz hail from a warrior past and wrestling – including oodarysh – wrestling on horseback – is considered a national sport and, practiced in nomadic camps over the centuries.  As it happens, all of Kyrgyzstan’s medals in the Olympic Games have come in the Martial Arts and there are several clubs and Gymnasia which specialise in training sportsmen in these different combat sports.

In fact all forms of combat sports are popular in Kyrgyzstan as can be seen, for example, from the fact that: 

• amongst the ten sportsmen named in 2001, three were weightlifters, three were wrestlers, one was a kickboxer, one in sambo, one representing athletics and one player of the traditional Kyrgyz Game Toguz Korgol.  Sambo is a composite of various styles of martial art.  It is practiced in several countries apart from those of the former Soviet Union, and in the US is sometimes called Sombo.  (The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is a Master of Sport in both Sambo and Judo.)   The Kyrgyz have been fairly successful in international Sambo competitions – for example, in 2007 lifting 2 gold, 3 silver and 9 bronze medals. 
• Judo provided the first of Kyrgyzstan’s three Olympic medals - a Bronze won by Aidyn Smagulov in the 2000 Sydney games. 
• Kygyzstan has competed in the Olympic Games in Boxing and amongst notable Kyrgyz boxers are:
  • The Klitschko brothers, Vitaly (a former professional kickboxer and WBD world heavyweight champion in 2004/5) and Vladimir (an IBF and IBO world heavyweight champion).  Although Ukranian, they were born in Belovodsk when their father, a colonel in the Soviet Air Force was based in Kyrgyzstan. Vitaly knocked out each of his first 27 professional opponents – only three of whom managed to survive beyond the first round.
  • Almazbek Raiymkulov won the provisional NABF (North American Boxing Federation) Heavyweight title in 2006.  At that point he had won 23 of his 25 professional bouts – 14 by a knock-out – and losing only one … the other was a draw – but according to some accounts, (not all of them Kyrgyz), it was a controversial decision.   Having competed in the Olympics and other competitions, he turned professional in 2001 and now lives and trains in Las Vegas.  He is sometimes known by the nickname “Kid Diamond” (a version of his name, Almazbek … in Kyrgyz Almaz means diamond and “bek” is a diminutive could translate as “kid”) and sometimes as “Doctor Evil”.   
  • Oruzbek Nazarov, a lightweight southpaw who reigned as the WBA Lightweight Championship in from 1993 to 1998.  He won 26 of his 27 bouts, 19 by a knockout.  Born in Kant in 1966, he now lives in Tokyo and has occasionally officiated as a boxing judge. 
  • A name to watch for is apparently Sergei Sklyarov.  Born in Tokmok in 1987, where his father, also Sergei, and brother, Oleg, (both boxers) were born.  The family have moved to Omsk and he now boxes for Russia.  He has made a good start to his career, becoming an amateur youth European Champion at Middleweight and is heading to the Baijing Olympics.   
• Kickboxing is popular and there have been several world Champions from Kyrgyzstan including: Mirbek Suiunbaev and Shaban Shadmanov (low kick).  In 2002 a match between Kyrgyzstan and the US in Bishkek ended in a 6-0 for the home team.
• Two of the traditional sports popular amongst the nomadic Kyrgyz were kurosh (wrestling) and oodarysh (wrestling on horseback).  Kyrgyzstan has sent participants to compete in Wrestling at both, the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Greco-Roman Wrestling, and freestyle wrestling.  Two of Kyrgyzstan’s three Olympic medals have come from Greco-Roman Wrestling.  There is even Women’s wrestling – with Nurzat Shaylobaeva of Kyrgyzstan being ranked in the world’s “top ten”. 
• Armwrestling is also popular – with over 1000 practitioners throughout the country.  Kyrgyz participants have won several medals in competition, including three Gold medals at the 2007 Asian championships held on Lake Issyk Kul - and Alexnder Li won a bronze medal in the 2006 World Championships held in Manchester, England. 
• In 1993 the Taekwondo Association of the Kyrgyz Republic joined the World Taekwondo Federation and sends competitors to various competitions. 
• There are national Ju-Jitsu and a Belt Wrestling Federations.
• There is even a National Sumo Federation of Kyrgyzstan.

Wrestling and martial arts have also played a “darker” side in Kyrgyz society – and it is claimed that several “martial arts” practitioners played a role in Kyrgyzstan’s  Revolutions,  (on both sides!).  

 

Tags: Expat, For_the_Record, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Sport