Ministry of Culture and Sports reviews main results of work for 2021

A collegium of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan took place in the Central Communications Service. Minister of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan Dauren Abayev reported on the main results of the work of the department for 2021.

“Last year, the institution of per capita financing of sports sections was introduced. This is the first time such a government measure has been adopted in the country. Thanks to this, last year more than 162,000 children and adolescents attended sports clubs free of charge. Funds for the opening of sports sections in the republic exceeded 6 billion tenge,” Abayev said.

At the same time, a system of additional payments to teachers of state educational organizations for conducting extracurricular sports activities in the amount of 100% of the base salary has been introduced.

The wages of employees of specialized schools and colleges in the field of physical culture and sports increased by 25%. In addition, their periods will increase annually until 2023, and by 2023 this increase will be 100%.

The salary of the leading and key personnel of the anti-doping laboratory of athletes and the National Anti-Doping Center, the Republican Educational, Methodological and Analytical Center for Physical Culture and Sports has increased by 100% of the official salary.

At the lessons of physical culture of all levels of education, the national sports Qazaq Kuresi, Togyzqumalaq and Asyq Atu were introduced as a mandatory component.

As part of the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, over 27,000 sports events were held in the republic last year. These events covered 1.5 million people, 900 thousand of them in rural areas. One of the important directions in the development of mass sports is school and student sports. To date, more than 2 million schoolchildren are involved in sports and physical education.

On the development of student sports. Currently, there are more than a thousand sports sections in universities. They covered more than 186 thousand students, which is 30.3% of students. At the local level, there are 652 youth clubs, 138 clubs for physical training of children and adolescents. They cover more than 220 thousand children and adolescents.

There is an increase in the number of sports instructors in the republic. In 2021, 5,610 sports instructors worked at their place of residence, including 3,065 in rural areas.

The number of citizens with special needs who systematically go in for sports and physical culture has exceeded 48 thousand people.

Then Dauren Abayev moved on to the sport of higher achievements. The XXXII Summer Olympic Games and the XVI Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo were the main events of the past year.

“Earlier, we have repeatedly said that the results of the Olympics are disappointing. In addition, at the Paralympics we won 1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals. Athletes from Atyrau, Akmola and Zhambyl regions showed good results,” he recalled.

For the continuous training of the sports reserve, 545 sports organizations operate in the country. More than 400 thousand athletes are involved in it. Among them are 481 children's and youth sports schools, a specialized school covering 386,000 children and adolescents. There are also 25 regional and 1 republican schools of higher sportsmanship. Their contingent is 5,844 athletes. There are 3 Olympic training centers and 17 Olympic reserve training centers.

In 2021, athletes of the national team of the Republic of Kazakhstan in sports took part in 474 international competitions. 51 international tournaments have been held on the territory of the republic. As a result of participation in official sports events, world championships, world cups, Asian championships and international tournaments, we have won 632 medals of various denominations.

Speaking about the urgent tasks for 2022, Abayev noted that the most important problem is the lack of sports infrastructure. The main growth of infrastructure is due to planar structures. The number of indoor sports facilities in the country remains insufficient.

The analysis shows that according to the standards, the total need for sports halls in the country is over one and a half million square meters. m, the actual availability — 1,029 thousand sq.m. Thus, the deficit is more than 500 thousand sq.m. The largest deficit was recorded in the Turkistan and Almaty regions, as well as the cities of Nur-Sultan and Shymkent. The most favorable situation is observed in Pavlodar, Karaganda and West Kazakhstan regions. However, even in these regions we are talking about infrastructure deficit, albeit not so high.

“At the same time, I want to note that the above figures are based on statistics provided by local executive bodies. I’m afraid that in the event of a large-scale audit, the situation will appear more depressing: some regions represent abandoned fields without a fence with bare gates on the outskirts of the village as football fields,” the Minister of Culture and Sports explained.

In view of the above, the Ministry, together with the akimats, developed a draft Schedule for the development of sports infrastructure. As part of the document, it is planned to build 114 new facilities, reconstruct and modernize 21 facilities, and equip 6 large facilities with inventory. Some buildings of republican sports organizations are in unsatisfactory technical condition.

At present, representatives of the Ministry conduct a tour of all subordinate organizations. The key goal is to form a complete picture with all the problems. After that, a plan for their phased solution will be drawn up. The responsible vice minister should keep this issue under direct control.

The second task is the development of mass sports, incl. "bringing to mind" the state sports order. The President gave a clear and unambiguous instruction in this direction. This is one of the most important tools for improving and social well-being of citizens.

Since May 1, 2021, a mechanism has been introduced for the implementation of the state sports order through per capita financing of sports sections. As a result, more than 217,000 children and adolescents aged 4 to 17 attend sports clubs free of charge.

“Our key goal is 100% coverage of school-age children and adolescents with affordable physical education and sports in sports sections. In this matter, the most important thing is that the money reaches the children, that the financing mechanisms are transparent, the criteria are clear and unambiguous. I talked with coaches, instructors, section leaders: they have a lot of suggestions in this regard. It is necessary to listen to them,” said Abayev.

At the same time, in a number of regions, facts of non-compliance with the approved limits on financing professional clubs are revealed. It is necessary to strengthen the control of this issue.

In general, the following priorities have been fixed in this direction:

  • introduction of the position of a sports instructor in each rural district;
  • increase in the number of children's and youth's physical fitness clubs up to 1,000 with coverage of key villages;
  • creation in sports complexes of conditions for playing sports for adults and children with special needs;
  • holding republican competitions in sports among persons with disabilities without contraindications.

The third task is to provide coaches, judges and sports veterans. The analysis revealed an acute shortage of highly qualified sports coaches, which is directly related to their remuneration. To date, according to the system of remuneration of civil servants, the salary of a trainer without experience of an average qualification level without a category is 63 thousand tenge. In this regard, graduates of physical education departments successfully join the ranks of workers in the service sector, security firms, law enforcement agencies, but not sports.

At the meeting in Shchuchinsk, it was already said that a serious shortage of personnel is planned in Kazakhstan against the background of reaching the backbone of coaches of pre-retirement and retirement age. In this regard, proposals will be made to the Government to increase the salaries of trainers at the initial stages of training and the issue of their financial incentives will be worked out.

The next important issue of social support is lifelong monthly financial support for high sports results.

“I instruct the vice minister to work out an increase in the size of the payment of lifelong material support for champions, prize-winners, as well as their coaches to 100 MCI or 306 thousand tenge,” the head of the Ministry of Culture and Sports added.

According to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Physical Culture and Sports”, sports federations are obliged to train sports referees of all categories. Today, there are 4,276 judges in the country. 413 of them have an international category and only 12 judges were involved in judging at the Tokyo Olympics. These facts reflect weak work in this area. At the same time, the lack of interest in the training of judges by the federations is again caused by low wages. For servicing one day of sports competitions, judges are paid from 1,239 tenge.

In this regard, the ministry is preparing proposals to increase the tariffication of wages for sports referees.

The fourth task is the preparation of the national sports reserve. Without a qualitative renewal of the composition of the national teams, it is impossible to achieve great success. And for this today there are all the prerequisites, as evidenced by the results of youth national teams at the world championships, Asia, stages and world cups.

“The growing youth have sports potential and we have no right to lose it. The practice of optimizing the financing of sports organizations and facilities has led to a decrease in the number of children involved, qualified specialists, and, of course, the availability of sports infrastructure for all categories of citizens. Thus, over the years of independence, the number of youth sports schools has decreased by 33%. Due to insufficient funding for local youth sports schools, many children and adolescents do not have a full opportunity to participate in sports competitions and training camps. These schools are poorly equipped with the necessary sports equipment, equipment, and have outdated infrastructure,” said Dauren Abayev.

In this regard, local executive bodies need to increase the funding of the Youth Sports School in terms of travel expenses for participation in training camps and competitions.

The minister also noted that in some regions there are no boarding schools-colleges of the Olympic reserve. In this regard, he expressed a proposal to instruct the akims of Atyrau, Mangystau, Kostanay regions to open boarding schools-colleges of the Olympic reserve.

The principle of making lump-sum payments for high sports results for coaches will also be revised. Today they are provided only for the first, personal and head coaches of the athlete. Now it is planned to encourage coaches at all stages of training successful athletes.

For high-quality and effective training of regional teams, sports development directorates will be created in all regions and cities of republican significance. At the central level, from April 1, 2022, instead of the National Olympic Committee, these functions will be performed by the Republican Directorate for the Development of Sports under the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

In addition, within the framework of the pilot, the Ministry is developing targeted Concepts for the development of such sports as swimming and cross-country skiing.

The development of training programs for athletes for the 2024 Summer Olympics and the 2026 Winter Olympics is underway.

The fifth task is due attention to sports medicine. Today, systematic work is underway to return the WADA accreditation of the Anti-Doping Laboratory in Almaty. A total of 41 positive cases of anti-doping rule violations were identified in 2021. 34 disciplinary decisions were issued. The remaining cases are under investigation.

International experience today shows that achieving high results in sports is impossible without high-quality medical and scientific support. In the field of sports, medical activities are carried out: at the republican level — by the Center for Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Medical Department of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan, at the regional level — by 6 regional and city medical and sports dispensaries.

In addition, in three regions, the functions of a dispensary are performed by medical departments of sports organizations, and in 6 regions of the republic there are no sports medicine organizations at all. These are Atyrau, Aktobe, West Kazakhstan, Mangystau, North Kazakhstan and Karaganda regions.

“Unfortunately, there is an acute shortage of sports doctors in Kazakhstan, many examinations are carried out formally, anonymous complaints came from the athletes themselves that sports medicine is focused only on the development of budget funds. In this regard, I instruct the responsible vice minister to develop a set of measures to modernize sports medicine, which includes, among other things, the invitation of specialists from abroad,” Abayev said.

The backbone of weightlifting team is made up of young athletes aged 16 to 23 — Smakhanov

Further, the head coach of the men's weightlifting team Nurzhan Smakhanov made a report.

He recalled that the federation, in agreement with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, decided to divide the full-time national weightlifting team into men's and women's in the practice of martial arts in Kazakhstan, as well as the experience of other countries.

During the period of independence of the country, Kazakhstani weightlifters managed to win a huge number of medals at tournaments of the Olympic and international level. It is gratifying that the young generation of weightlifters, formed as a result of the active popularization of weightlifting over the past decade, also makes a great contribution to the treasury of medals. Since 2020, the composition of the SHNSK has been updated by 70%. At the moment, the main backbone of the national team is made up of young athletes aged 16 to 23.

“Due to the division of the team, the composition of the SHNSK for 2022 increased both for men and women (19 and 18 athletes, respectively), all athletes proved their superiority at the end of the championships republics held last year. Many, despite their young age, are world champions and continental championships,” Smakhanov said.

According to him, the task that stands now, despite the ongoing changes, is, first of all, to consolidate and improve the results that weightlifting has shown throughout the entire period. For the upcoming Asian Games, the goal of the Kazakh team is to perform in full force (7 men and 7 women).

“We understand that these games in terms of medal count will be one of the most difficult as they take place in Hangzhou, China. However, the goal we set for ourselves is to win one silver and one bronze medal for both the men's and women's teams,” he added.

Returning to the problems that exist in weightlifting, Smakhanov noted that there was a reduction in the number of quotas for weightlifting for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In connection with this, the number of weight categories was reduced (compared to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, they will be reduced from 14 (7 men / 7 women) to 10 (5/5). For comparison, at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 there were 15 weight categories (8/7).

To date, the 2024 Olympic qualification system has not been approved, but it is known that it will be similar to the previous system, based on the individual standings for each athlete and the need to get the best results during the qualifying tournaments that start this year.

"Over the past months, a separate group of coaches and athletes who have been influenced by them have been working to discredit our sport and destabilize the work of the Federation, the NOC and the Sports Committee. I would like to note that, calling themselves a "weightlifting team" these people do not represent the entire weightlifting community of Kazakhstan.Taking advantage of the tragic death of an athlete, playing on the mountain, they pursue personal interests, setting ultimatum demands vanity. We believe that such methods and pressure are unacceptable, lead to discord among the coaches and disrupt the preparation of the SNSC for the upcoming competitions. I have to admit that this group is headed by our colleagues who had multiple doping violations and now, taking this opportunity, are trying to rehabilitate themselves, but it was because of them that weightlifting suffered huge reputational and financial losses at one time. In addition, these coaches do not have their pupils in the SHNSK,” the head coach of the men's weightlifting team emphasized.

He added that the head coaches of the national team intend to work on building a dialogue and stabilizing the situation as a whole.

Boxing teams attract promising members of country's youth teams — Myktybekov

Executive Director of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation Maratbek Myktybekov reported on the measures taken to improve the results of the national boxing team, as well as on the future plans of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation.

“Since 2021, continuous work has been carried out to prepare the National Boxing Teams for the main competitions of this year. Except, perhaps, the Olympic Games, where for the first time Kazakhstani boxing brought only two bronze medals. Each team, both men's and women's, showed excellent results at the Asian Championships in Dubai, which is rightfully considered the most important competition for amateur boxers in Asia, taking the first team place. Only our girls brought 8 gold medals at the world boxing championship among adults in Serbia, where our men's national team also became number one, having won 5 medals of various denominations,” Myktybekov said.

According to him, after analyzing the results of the Olympic Games, assessing the situation and condition in both NSCs, it was decided to immediately change the coaching staff to improve both the physical and psychological atmosphere. It was also necessary to improve performance in teams, to better prepare for participation in further international events that can lead athletes to top medals at the upcoming 2024 Olympics. Additionally, the leadership of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation attracted a pharmacologist who purchases additional biomedical products and sports nutrition for athletes, based on medical examination results.

This year, it is planned to pay special attention to the growing reserve and hold joint training camps with adult teams for a smoother transition of the younger generation to the team and ensure the purchase of biomedical products and sports nutrition for young athletes. At the same time, according to the results of the performances of the national boxing teams at international starts, the President of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation, for additional incentive, supports athletes, coaches and members of the complex scientific group with additional bonus payments.

“The adult national boxing teams attract promising members of youth national teams to create a more qualitative and quantitative reserve in preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, which will allow for a competitive selection and form a strong team based on its results,” said Myktybekov.

As he reported further, at the moment the women's national team is preparing for one of the most important starts of the current year — the Women's World Boxing Championship, which will be held in Turkey in May. To this end, the coaching council has drawn up a detailed training schedule for each promising athlete for each month. Currently, both national teams are taking part in the annual Strandzha International Boxing Tournament, where 37 countries participate. In March this year. it is planned to hold a match meeting in the Akmola region with leading boxers from Uzbekistan, Russia and Turkey, where world and Olympic champions will take part.

“The men's national team also takes part in the annual Strandzha international boxing tournament, which will allow young athletes to gain more experience. The coaching council of the men's national team has developed a calendar plan for the participation of the NSC in significant away tournaments to improve skills, exchange experience and improve the potential of young athletes,” said Myktybekov.

In addition, according to the head of the federation, in June of this year. a professional development seminar is planned for the coaching staff of both national teams, which will improve the quality of training of athletes for upcoming international events. Also, negotiations are currently underway with the International Boxing Association to hold a referee seminar in Kazakhstan with the assignment of stars so that more referees have international qualifications and can take part in various tournaments around the world. At the same time, the leadership of the federation is scheduled to take part in the electoral congress of the Asian Boxing Confederation in March of this year. and the Electoral Congress of the International Boxing Association in May of this year.

“All these starts are aimed at preparing our athletes for the Asian Games, which are held under the auspices of the Olympic Council of Asia and are the most significant event that can only be compared with the Olympic Games in importance. In turn, the Asian Games are a great start in preparation for the most important sporting event — the 2024 Olympics. Our common goal is to ensure unhindered work on improving the plan of events for the next two years, so that our athletes are at their peak by the start of the Olympic Games and have a worthy his performance in Paris,” said Myktybekov.

New financing mechanism for children's sports is working — Alin

At the meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan, following the results of work for 2021, Kanat Alin, President of the Grappling Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan, made a report on reforming the children's sports system.

The head of state, in his message to the people of Kazakhstan dated September 1, 2020, for the first time announced a new concept for financing children's sports and creativity, and on December 30, 2020, he signed the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On amendments and additions to certain legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on culture, physical culture and sports.

As part of these reforms, regulatory legal acts were approved that define the rules and methodology for per capita regulatory financing of the state sports order.

An electronic portal ARTsport.edu.kz was also launched, which brought together service providers, parents and operators — local executive bodies, whose responsibility is to place government orders, approve suppliers and form the order of children for enrollment in sports sections.

Thus, it can be stated that a conceptually new mechanism for financing children's sports has been launched, and since May 1 last year, thousands of children have been able to attend sports sections free of charge.

Kanat Alin also noted that the program of per capita financing of children's leisure turned out to be timely and, apparently, very much in demand. At the same time, today there is a need to improve the per capita financing program.

At the end of the year, there was a small amount of pending applications from private sports schools. It seems that the reason for this is the imperfection of the information program. In this connection, I would like the information program to be improved, to become state-owned, integrated with other information programs.

Need some clarity on the next question. To date, not all sports are included in the list of types of state sports order.

“In this regard, I would like to include more non-Olympic sports, these disciplines are very popular among children. In my opinion, all sports recognized by the state should be given the opportunity to participate in this program. Let the most popular sports be determined by the children themselves,” commented Kanat Alin, President of the Grappling Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

To date, over the period of the program implementation, enough proposals have accumulated to begin work on improving the regulatory legal acts that define the rules and methodology for per capita regulatory financing.

Also during the report, Alin asked to focus the attention of the developers on the following aspects:

the need to tighten the requirements for the premises for classes in terms of compliance with sanitary and epidemiological, fire safety standards.

“It is very important that the premises meet the requirements for ensuring the protection of people's health during the operation of buildings. Also, it is necessary to pay attention to the requirements for suppliers, for employees, for the education of trainers, I believe that specialists with higher education who have experience working with children should work,” said the head of the Association.

Thus, he noted, the implementation of almost any new program raises certain issues that require timely solutions. At the same time, there is an understanding that the unique program will soon bring its results, not only in ensuring the mass participation in sports, the formation of a healthy lifestyle for the younger generation, but also in the spiritual and moral education of the future generation.

North-Kazakhstan region promotes volleyball among young people

Kairbek Khamzin, director of the Kuanysh volleyball club of the North-Kazakhstan region, spoke within the framework of the collegium of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

“I started developing and supporting women's volleyball in the North Kazakhstan region in 2009 in the Timiryazev district, the village of Timiryazev, where I am engaged in agriculture and am the head of the Anar peasant farm. In this village, on the basis of the Kazakh boarding school, physical education teacher Yessimov regularly conducted volleyball training sessions with girls. This sport interested me and I began to provide financial support and began to conduct training sessions with him,” said Khamzin.

With the arrival of Khamzin to the team, it was decided to involve children from rural districts for the further development of the team and participation in district, regional volleyball competitions. This reform showed a positive result in the form of repeated victories of the team itself.

Regularly representing the North-Kazakhstan region at the children's volleyball championships of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Timiryazevsky and Kyzylzharsky districts were the strongholds in the formation of the team, in which the Kuanysh club repeatedly became the winner and prize-winner.

“In 2012, having formed a team of pupils from the Timiryazev and Kyzylzharsky districts, as well as local coaches Batanov, Shmelev, Yessimov, we entered the Higher League “B”, where in the 2012-2013 season we took 3rd place,” said the head of the club.

In 2013, at the initiative of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of the Akimat of the North Kazakhstan region, on the basis of the North Kazakhstan regional specialized boarding school for gifted children in sports, a department of women's volleyball was opened in the city of Petropavlovsk, where club members were enrolled for further training and improvement of sports skill. Coaches were also employed, who began their volleyball career in the region.

“In the 2013-2014 season, the team becomes the winner of the Higher League “B” and, according to the sports principle, the team rises to the Higher League “A”, at the end of the season, our coach Yessimov is involved in the National U-23 team as an assistant to the head coach,” Khamzin said during the board meeting.

Today, jobs are being created in the club, additional specialists are coming to the team. Funding comes from the department of physical culture and sports of the akimat of the North Kazakhstan region.

“At the time the club was founded, there was not enough money to support the team, so then and now I continue to develop and finance women's volleyball in the region. Every year our funding increases,” said Kairbek Khamzin.

In the 2016-2017 season, the team becomes the winner of the Major League, and moves to the National League, where the presence of a backup team under 23 is mandatory. It was decided to purchase the building of the old sports hall within the city, in which, after construction and repair work, the Kuanysh VC team was housed, and the backup team on the basis of a sports boarding school. In the same year, in the structure of the Kuanysh volleyball club, sports and recreation groups were opened for girls from 6 years of age and older, with further selection of promising children in a sports boarding school in the region.

As part of the debut season of 2017-2018 in the National League, the team takes 7th place, and the backup team becomes the owner of silver medals. With each subsequent season, the volleyball team strengthened its position in the standings. So, in the 2018-2019 season, the team took 5th place, in the 2019-2020 season, the team stopped one step away from bronze medals and took 4th place.

“Due to the constantly growing number of children involved, in 2020 we began preparations for the reconstruction of the sports complex by adding a new sports hall at our own expense. A land plot was purchased, an architectural and planning task was received and design estimates were developed, and I started the reconstruction of the sports hall,” said the head of the volleyball club at the board meeting.

In October 2021, the reconstruction of the sports complex was completed and the facility was put into operation in November. The cost of the reconstruction project amounted to 600 million tenge. Today, the Kuanysh volleyball club has its own sports base with two gyms, a gym and a medical unit for sports rehabilitation and recovery. The total usable area of ​​the complex is 2560 square meters. At the moment, the club has two professional teams participating in the National and Major Leagues. Three children's teams take part in the Championships of the Republic of Kazakhstan in different age categories. More than 100 children in sports and recreation groups are engaged on an ongoing basis. A good impetus in the development and involvement of children in sports was the presidential program of per capita financing.

To date, VC Kuanysh is the bronze medalist of the Cup of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2021, the bronze medalist of the 29th Championship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in volleyball among women's master teams of the National League.

Today, in the North Kazakhstan region, with the support of the regional akim, sports and recreation complexes are being built in regional centers, which will give impetus to the development of sports in the region, including volleyball.

Kazakhstani athletics teams can compete in international arena — Yusupova

As the President of the Kazakhstan Gymnastics Federation Aliya Yusupova noted, at present, the NGO Kazakhstan Gymnastics Federation includes: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline gymnastics, sports acrobatics, aerobic gymnastics. These kinds of sports are classified as difficult-coordinating and traumatic kinds, kinds of sports of early specialization.

At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Kazakhstanis won 2 licenses (rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline gymnastics). At the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020, domestic gymnasts also won 2 licenses (artistic gymnastics (men) and rhythmic gymnastics).

“Our athletes also show stable results at the Asian Games. In 2014, Kazakh athletes won 1 bronze medal, in 2018 they won 2 gold and one bronze medal. In the new Olympic cycle, there have been big changes in the system of participation in rating competitions in artistic and rhythmic gymnastics. To participate in the World Championship, you need to get a quota,” said Yusupova.

The quota must be obtained for the following types:

Artistic gymnastics (men):

- at the Asian Championships, they must enter the 5 strongest teams in order to have the right to compete at the World Championships as a team (4-5 gymnasts);

- or be among the 6 strongest all-around athletes at the Asian Championship in order to have the right to compete at the World Championship (nominal quota);

- or be in the top three of the strongest athletes in the ranking of the World Cups (nominal quota).

Artistic gymnastics (women):

- at the Asian Championships, they must enter the 4 strongest teams in order to be eligible to compete at the World Championships as a team (4-5 gymnasts);

- or be among the 8 strongest all-around athletes at the Asian Championship in order to have the right to compete at the World Championship (nominal quota);

- or be in the top three of the strongest athletes in the ranking of the World Cups (nominal quota).

Rhythmic gymnastics (individual program):

- at the Asian Championships, they must be among the top 5 so that athletes can perform as a full team (2-3 gymnasts);

- or show the next 7 results so that they can compete at the World Championships with 1 gymnast.

Rhythmic gymnastics (group exercises):

- be in the top 24 at the 2022 World Championships in order to qualify for the licensed 2023 World Championships;

- to participate in the 2023 World Cups, two gymnasts in the individual program must be among the 18 strongest athletes at the 2022 World Championships.

The system for winning licenses for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has not yet been officially approved.

“Skipping one of the competitions entails a decrease in the rating of athletes and the chances of winning a license for the Olympic Games 2024. Now, strong teams have been formed in the types of gymnastics that can adequately compete in the international arena and show high sports results,” Yusupova noted.

According to her, the main starts for 2022 are:

Asian Games — 11-23.09.2022, Hangzhou, China

Asian Championship

- artistic gymnastics — 15-18.06.2022, Doha, Qatar

- rhythmic gymnastics — 23-26.06.2022, Pattaya, Thailand

- trampoline gymnastics — by appointment.

World Championship

- artistic gymnastics — 29.10.-06.11.2022, Liverpool, UK

- rhythmic gymnastics — 14-18.09.2022, Sofia, Bulgaria

- trampoline gymnastics — 16-19.11.2022, Sofia, Bulgaria

As the head of the federation reported further, in order to prepare athletes for the main competitions, the federation, with the support of sponsors and partners, carried out the following work:

- a year-round training camp was organized for the preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games of one athlete on an individual program in rhythmic gymnastics, the second gymnast returned to Kazakhstan due to an injury and will be trained in the country;

- the Duman hall was equipped for training the full-time national rhythmic gymnastics team in Nur-Sultan;

- work is underway to equip the hall for the full-time national gymnastics team in the city of Almaty (men's and women's teams);

- since March 2021, the national team of the Republic of Kazakhstan in rhythmic gymnastics is based on the basis of the Duman specialized gymnastics hall;

- organizing the participation of the national gymnastics team in all World Cups.

Yusupova also spoke in her speech about the problematic issues hindering the further development of the types of gymnastics in Kazakhstan. Among them, according to her, are the following questions.

The full-time national rhythmic gymnastics team trains in the Duman gym in Nur-Sultan. The Federation equipped this hall with gymnastic mats and other necessary equipment. From March 2021 to March 15, 2022, the rent of the Duman hall is paid through the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There is an acute question regarding the source of financing for the rent of the Duman hall from March 16, 2022.

A base is needed to train the national gymnastics team (women) of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Federation has purchased certified equipment for artistic gymnastics (women), delivery is scheduled for the end of March. There is a question about paying the rent for the gymnastics hall on the basis of CSKA in Almaty for basing the women's gymnastics team.

For better preparation of national teams in artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline gymnastics for the upcoming Asian Games, it is necessary to “run in” the competitive program, as well as gain competitive experience at major international competitions.

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