ASTANA – Ainur Zhakapbayeva, head coach of Kazakhstan’s national togyzkumalak team, expressed confidence in the team’s potential to win a gold medal in ovari, an intellectual game from West Africa, at the fifth World Nomad Games, the event’s press service reported on Aug. 23.
Photo credit: ulttyqatsport.kz
“Despite the fact that ovari has not yet become widespread in Kazakhstan, Kazakh athletes have already achieved significant success in the international arena. At the Mind Sports Olympiad in London in 2006 and at the Cannes Film Festival, they demonstrated themselves at a high level,” Zhakapbayeva said.
At the third World Nomad Games in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2018, Kazakhstan won two gold medals in ovari. Assel Daliyeva and Diana Kenina excelled in the team event, and Daliyeva also took gold in the individual women’s event.
To prepare for the upcoming games, Kazakhstan held its first national ovari championship in Kyzylorda in March. The event featured 27 athletes, and the top performers were selected to represent Kazakhstan at the World Nomad Games. The team includes Honored Master of Sports Serik Aktayev, Master of Sports of International Class Ernur Mereshev, Honored Master of Sports Assel Daliyeva, and Master of Sports of International Class Ansagan Kozhanasip.
The Kazakh team’s primary competitors in ovari are expected to be from African countries, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Kyrgyz Republic. To enhance their skills, Kazakh athletes are training online using the playok.com platform.
Ovari is a mind game, played between two people on a board with 12 small pits (six on each side) and two larger pits for storing stones. The objective is to collect the most stones in one’s storage pits. The player with the highest number of stones at the end of the game wins.
