Kazakhstan wants to cut the number of sports it finances with public funds

Kazakhstan is going to cut the number of athletic disciplines that are financially supported with public funds. According to Minister of Tourism and Sport Yermek Marzhikpayev, the list of 180 sports will be cut to just 50 sports.

What happened? The minister of tourism and sport said that the government provides financial support to 180 athletic disciplines, while only 46 of them have been officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Moreover, Kazakhstani sportsmen take part only in 20 to 28 sports and usually win in 5 to 7 disciplines. The government is now going to cut the number of sports it supports from the state budget.

How many sports will Kazakhstan continue to support? As the minister said, the government will focus on 50 athletic disciplines.

«We must support and develop about 50 sports. These are summer and winter Olympic sports, paralympic sports, disciplines included in the Asian Games program and traditional sports of Kazakhstan,» Marzhikpayev said.

According to the official, Russia financially supports only 31 sports, Germany – 15, the Netherlands – 20 and Uzbekistan – 17.

«Of course, it won’t happen overnight. We will prepare a detailed report on what sports we are going to cut financing for, letting children and teachers get used to the changes,» the minister of tourism and sport said.

The context. Earlier this year, MP Nartay Sarsengaliyev criticized the government for spending $775 million a year to support 180 sports, even though only 50 of them are Olympic athletic disciplines. In addition, despite the huge amount of money being spent, Kazakhstan rarely wins at international tournaments, according to Sarsengaliyev, who proposed cutting the number of sports supported from the state budget. He said that only Olympic, Paralympic, Deaflympic and traditional sports must be supported with public funds.

Over decades of participating in various international tournaments Kazakhstan has proven its strong positions in sports such as boxing, weightlifting, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling and track-and-field athletics.

During the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China this fall, Kazakhstan was ranked 11th with ten gold medals, the worst result for Kazakhstan since 1994. For comparison, during the Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2022, Kazakhstan was 9th with 15 gold medals. This year, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev didn’t hide his disappointment with the results in Hangzhou. He said that athletes «could have done better.» He also called them to make sure they learned their lessons and put more effort into preparation for the Olympic Games in Paris, France next year.