KZBlog

Those of us living in Kazakhstan may be forgiven for being a bit confused. So much noise has been being made about the Winter Games which start in January here in Astana and Almaty, that I didn’t realize there was a summer component to the games. Which inexplicably are happening now in China.

Kazakhstan has had some good news and some bad news coming out of Guangzhou. As expected Kazakhstan is doing quite well in weightlifting with Olympic champions Ilya Ilyin, Svetlana Podobedova, and Maiya Maneza all winning golds. Kazakhstan has medals across the board including a gold in shooting and in track and field. You can find the full list of all 26 medals won by Kazakhstan so far at the official Asian Games 2010 site.

However there is a slight mar to Kazakhstan’s performance as this week three field hockey players were expelled for violating qualification rules. Anastassiya Chsherbakova, Alessya Pyotukh, and Yuliya Mikheichik all had played for Belarus in World Cup qualifications in April of this year, making them ineligible to represent Kazakhstan. Further, all Kazakhstan’s matches so far will be recorded as losses. So no field hockey glory for Kazakhstan this year, just a reminder to the Ministry of Sport to check the rule book more carefully next time they buy foreign athletes.