International Qurultai of Kökbörü-Buzkashi Organisations

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The International Qurultaı of Kökbörü-Buzkaşı Organisations (Kökbörü-Buzkaşı Uyumlarnıņ Halıqaralıq Qurultayı - KBUHQ) is the international regulating body for the Central Asian sport of Kökbörü. The international umbrella organisation is made up of representative delegations from the various national organising councils, with a rotating chairmanship.

The international regulating body was founded in 1967 to oversee the increasing number of international matches, and to encourage standardisation between the different nations represented.

In addition to regulating the national leagues of the sport known variously as Kökbörü, Kökpär, Buzkashi and Ulaq-Tartış, KBUHQ is also responsible for overseeing international competitions, particularly the Kökbörü-Buzkaşı World Championship.

Kökbörü-Buzkaşı World Championship

The Kökbörü-Buzkaşı World Championship is organised as a triennial competition, like the Central Asian Games. It runs in the year between the Central Asian Games and the World Games, and is usually hotly contested between participating countries.

The World Championship has its origin in a three-way competition between the Moghul National Realm, Persia and the newly-independent Turkestan, which took place in 1924. This competition ran intermittently during the period before the wars. With the outbreak of hostilities in both the Second Great War in the West and the Great Oriental War in the East, the Central Asian nations began to move to a war-preparedness footing. International Kökbörü-Buzkaşı games continued to be played, however, right up until the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and China in the 1946-1949 Central Asian War.

After the War, there was a brief period when international Kökbörü-Buzkaşı matches were organised on an ad-hoc individual basis, but in 1957, the first championship of a regular triennial competition took place. Participant nations were Turkestan, Persia, Mongolia, the Moghul National Realm and the Tuvin and Buryat Governorates.

The 1969 World Championship match between the Tuvin and Buryat Governorates was overshadowed by a controversy involving the precise origins of many of the team members of both finalist teams. A majority of players on the winning Tuvin team and a significant minority of players from the Buryat team were from parts of Russia outside of the Governorates that the teams theoretically represented. The situation was complicated by the refusal of Russia as a whole to field a team in such a "barbaric" non-Russian sport.

The following championship series of 1972 featured a greatly expanded roster of teams from several of the other Snorist ethnic governorates, as well as teams from Tibet, Uyguristan and Turkey. In 1981, the roster was expanded again with the inclusion of Kaxmir, Sind and the Punjab.

Year Championship Winner Other Finalist
1957 Mongolia Tuvin Guberniya
1960 Moghul National Realm Turkestan
1963 Turkestan Buryat Guberniya
1966 Mongolia Persia
1969 Tuvin Guberniya Buryat Guberniya
1972 Moghul National Realm Qazaq Guberniya
1975 Turkestan Tibet
1978 Tocharian Guberniya Mongolia
1981 Punjab Uyguristan
1984 Bashkir Guberniya Turkestan
1987 Kaxmir Tuvin Guberniya
1990 Moghul National Realm Mongolia
1993 Persia Qazaqstan
1996 Kaxmir Sind
1999 Turkestan Turkey
2002 Mongolia Tannu-Tuva
2005 Qazaqstan Turkestan
2008 Buryatia Sikh Razj Samdh
2011 ? ?

2011 World Championship

Scotland is once again expecting to field a team in the 2011 championship (see here). Groups are already assigned for the 2011 World Championships, which are expected to be an intense competition. The top two teams out of each group qualify for the playoffs, together with the two highest-scoring runner-up teams.

Group A appears to be shaping up into a showdown between the powerful Tuvin and Turkestani teams, though the Don Republic currently also have a strong national squad. The MNR appear to be a safe bet to top Group B, with the second place wide open. Group C is a very difficult group for the poor Scots, with Mongolia, Kaxmir and Bashkortostan all having very strong teams. Group D seems perhaps the most open of all, and pandits have predicted qualification by almost any combination of teams. Group E, on the other hand, looks like a three-way fight between Qazaqstan, the Sikh Confederacy and Kalmykia.

Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E
Sind Moghul National Realm Bashkortostan Persia United States of Siberia
Tannu-Tuva Tatarstan Kaxmir Buryatia Qazaqstan
Chuvashia Uyguristan Mongolia Tocharstan Sikh Razj Samdh
Turkestan Altai Scotland Tibet Turkey
Beihanguo Razputhana Bhavalpur Crimea Azerbaijan
Don Republic Khakassia Mari El Yakutia Kalmykia