OCT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s ministry of sport said that if it was to win the right to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2022 it would expect advertisers and investors to fund around 66% of the costs. Kazakhstan is desperate to host the Winter Olympics but observers have said that it might not be able to afford it.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almaty is talking up its chances of hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 2022. A spokesman for the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk- Kazyna, which is promoting the bid, said it was almost certain to win the Games after Oslo dropped out. Beijing is the other candidate city.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s inaugural Formula 1 race in 2016 will take place through the streets of Baku, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said.The race is controversial because of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on human rights. For Azerbaijan, though, it represents a great PR coup.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
SEPT. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik footballer Khurshed Beknazarov has test positive for a banned substance at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, media reported. Reports said that the 20-year-old defender had been sent home. The Asian Games are a showcase for countries and the ruling will be an embarrassment to Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has scored its second major football success of the year.
In May Athletico Madrid played in the Champions League final against its inter-city rivals Real Madrid, one of the most-watched sports events in the world. Emblazoned across its shirt was “Azerbaijan: Land of Fire”, a logo designed to promote the country as a tourist destination.
Athletico Madrid may have lost that match, but for Azerbaijan’s international image it was a storming success.
Now UEFA, European footballs’ governing body, has said Baku will be one of the host cities for the Euro 2020 football tournament. More precisely, Baku will host three group games and one of the quarter-final matches in the first trans-continental Euro football championship (Sept. 19).
This is a major coup for Azerbaijan as hosting four of Euro 2020 football matches guarantees blanket TV coverage and kudos.
It’s even more impressive given the context. The other four host cities for Euro 2020 are London, Munich and Rome — cities with long football lineage — and St Petersburg.
Baku has been pushing hard to promote itself through sport. This year it secured the right to host a Grand Prix race in 2016 and it is hosting the inaugural European Games in 2015. Hosting the quarterfinal of Euro 2020 will probably top the list though.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s football federation has signed a deal with English football club Manchester United to help it develop grass-roots interest in the sport, media reported. Azerbaijan has been developing links with various football clubs.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
CHOLPON-ATA/Kyrgyzstan, SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In front of a packed hippodrome in this provincial town of shores of the mountain-ringed Lake Issyk Kul, Kyrgyzstan A beat Kyrgyzstan B to win gold in the main event of Kok-Boru at this inaugural Nomadic Games.
Amid the enthusiastic roars of local Kyrgyz, foreign diplomats cheered on half-heartedly between snipes about graft and the hippodrome’s overloaded portaloos.
While the World Nomadic Games was designed to unite all countries of the Turkic-speaking world, it retained a very local flavour throughout, with the hosts cruising to victory in the medal table — the majority of the competitors were Kyrgyz — and poor planning abounding. None of the presidents of the competing states — Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — showed up as hoped before the games began.
The Kok-Boru on July 14 was spectacular, however. Exhibition games of Kok-Boru, a polo-like game played with a dried goat carcass, are common at tourist-focussed festivals throughout the country. This one was far more competitive, with the captain of Kyrgyzstan’s A team sporting a battle-inflicted gash across his forehead as he lead his team to victory over the B team.
Russia’s federal Altai Republic and Turkey claimed silver and bronze in the event respectively. Following a reported disagreement over the rules of Kok-Boru — or Kokpar to the Kazakhs — neighbouring Kazakhstan refused to send a team.
Also on Sept. 14, to the chuckles of local spectators, horses belonging to former Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov claimed the bronze and silver medals for the 2.5 km flat race. Babanov’s weakness for stallions is legendary.
He was jettisoned from the government amid rumours he had accepted a racehorse a bribe for securing a foreign investment for a Turkish businessmen in 2013.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
AUG. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government has refused entry to athletes from Nigeria and Sierra Leone for the World Wrestling Championship scheduled to start on Sept. 8 in Tashkent because of fears that they could spread the deadly Ebola virus, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
JULY 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan confirmed it would host a Formula 1 Grand Prix race in 2016. Hosting an F1 race is a huge PR success for Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who has been looking for ways to promote the country. Next year, Azerbaijan hosts the inaugural European Games.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
JULY 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has, arguably, the world’s most experienced football referee. Ravshan Irmatov, 36, made history by taking charge of his ninth World Cup game, a record, at the quarter-final between the Netherlands and Costa Rica. Uzbekistan’s national football team has never qualified for the World Cup finals.
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(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)
