📖+10 XP
🎧+10 XP
✅+15 XP
Kokpar returns to Kazakhstan with changed rulesCEFR A1
12 Oct 2025
Adapted from Vlast.kz, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Ivan Oleynikov, Unsplash
Level A1 – BeginnerCEFR A1
2 min
90 words
- Kokpar is a traditional Central Asian horseback game.
- The game is returning to public life in Kazakhstan.
- Ten men on Karabair horses chase a leather sack.
- Riders try to put the sack in a tai kazan.
- Organisers now use a 25-kilo dummy instead of a carcass.
- Teams are three-a-side and the field is smaller.
- Goals are softer and sometimes made of hay.
- The sport is fast and still very dangerous.
- A player in Kyrgyzstan died earlier this year.
- Clubs share videos and one has over 50,000 followers.
Difficult words
- game — A sport or activity for fun.
- play — To engage in an activity for enjoyment.played
- player — A person taking part in a game.Players
- horse — A large animal used for riding.horses
- score — To gain points in a game.
- goat — A farm animal with horns that is often kept for milk.
- popular — Liked or enjoyed by many people.
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- What is your favorite game to play?
- Why do you think Kokpar is popular in Kazakhstan?
- Have you ever played a game with animals?
- What makes a game fun for you?
Related articles
24 Nov 2025
Band of Holes at Monte Sierpe: an Indigenous accounting system?
New evidence suggests the Band of Holes at Monte Sierpe in southern Peru was part of a pre‑European Indigenous system for accounting and exchange. Researchers used sediment analysis and drone images to reach this conclusion.
21 Sept 2025
Concerns over arts funding and the future of Bocas Lit Fest
Marina Salandy-Brown links recent funding changes to wider problems in how Trinidad and Tobago values culture. She describes lost sponsorships, gaps in state support and calls for a statutory Arts Council with stable funding.
19 Oct 2025
21 Jan 2026
4 Mar 2025