ASTANA, Kazakhstan – Ladd Howell had his head in his hands and looked inconsolable.

At the fourth World Nomad Games, which he presides over this week in Astana, the U.S. national team he leads just came agonizingly close to its first victory in a sport that foreign media compare to “goat polo.”

In the end, the USA lost to Turkey on penalties after surrendering a 1-0 lead in the opening round of one of the Games’ two competing “goat-grabbing” contests.

“I’m not ready for an interview,” Howell said as his horse carried him from the hippodrome into the fading light.

By and large, the outcome was irrelevant.

Thanks in large part to the biennial World Nomad Games, which concluded on September 13, this equestrian sport with centuries-old roots is enjoying growing popularity, with more nations than ever taking part.

But in the end, only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan seem to be the winners.

Kyrgyzstan’s Kok-Boru, Kazakhstan’s Kokpar

International audiences may be more familiar with the Afghan variant of goat theft, Buzkashi, which was featured in the 1988 Hollywood blockbuster “Rambo.”

Banned during the first Taliban regime, Buzkashi is considered Afghanistan’s national sport and has even survived the radical Islamist group’s return to power and the reinstatement of many of its notoriously draconian restrictions.

But the biggest rivalry in the sport today is between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, with each of these two cities claiming their own version of the game – Kok-Boru (“Gray Wolf”) in Kyrgyzstan and Kokpar (literally “goat-grabbing”) in Kazakhstan.

Both Kok-Boru and Kokpar, both of which were part of the World Nomad Games, are variations on a time-honored Eurasian nomadic pastime that sometimes involves hundreds of riders but lacks the fixed boundaries required of a spectator sport.

At the World Nomad Games, the two sports could only be contested in teams of four riders each on a field the size of about two football pitches. However, the goal remained essentially the same as always: to get the goat carcass into the goal.

Traditionally, the teams used a specially prepared, amputated and decapitated goat carcass. But today the carcass is replaced by a synthetic model weighing around 30 kilograms.

For almost two decades, Kok-Boru was considered the regional standard.

“Kok-Boru has existed since 1996,” Samat Dzhumakadyrov, press secretary of the Kyrgyz Kok-Boru Association, told RFE/RL on the sidelines of the Kok-Boru duel between the United States and Turkey in the six-team tournament.

However, there is a significant difference in the gate: in the case of the Kok-Buro, according to Dzumakadyrov, it was created after the legendary Kyrgyz film director Bolot Shamshiev said that he had “seen the Tai-Kazan in a dream”.

The Tai-Kazan is a large, raised scoring bowl into which the players must hoist the goat carcass.

However, the first models of the Tai-Kazan were made of solid earth and caused numerous injuries when the riders attacked the target.

This, and Kyrgyzstan’s growing dominance in the sport, provided Kazakhstan with a strong incentive to develop Kokpar, which uses a circle on the ground instead of a Tai-Kazan. The change has been a godsend for Kazakhstan. Some theories suggest that the Kyrgyz horses are so used to the Tai-Kazan that they become disoriented when competing in Kokpar.

Kazakhstan hosted the first Kokpar World Championship in 2017, defeating Kyrgyzstan in the final. And that’s more or less been the pattern since then: Kazakhstan wins at Kokpar and Kyrgyzstan wins at Kok-Boru, with their respective opponents being crushed en route to the final.

“Shame, shame, shame!”

Kyrgyzstan wanted to break this pattern this time by reserving its best riders for the Kokpar tournament, in which nine teams participated, instead of the Kok Boru tournament.

At first everything went according to plan and Kyrgyzstan took a 3-1 lead in the Kokpar final on 12 September, defeating Kazakhstan.

But the match revolved around an ugly incident in which a Kazakh rider hit his Kyrgyz opponent at least twice with a riding crop.

This was followed by clashes between the teams and a lengthy interruption, while journalists filming the game from close up were asked to withdraw.

The match ended with a 5-4 victory for Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz accused the Kazakh referees of ignoring numerous rule violations and almost boycotted the award ceremony.

In an interview with Kyrgyz media, Kyrgyz team manager Erlan Abdykaparov said Kazakh national security officials had urged his team “not to sow discord between the two nations.”

Inevitably, the tensions in the Hippodrome spilled over onto Instagram.

“My brother, you showed your sport in the worst possible way. If you play like that, Kokpar will never develop outside of Kazakhstan,” was a typical Kyrgyz comment.

“Shame, shame, shame! Where is your dignity?” it said elsewhere.

The Kyrgyz, who expected repentance from the Kazakh side, were probably disappointed by the reaction of the honorary president of the Kokpar Federation, MP Aidarbek Qojanazarov.

He cited “an unwritten rule of the Kokpar” that “the dust raised should remain on the field”.

“There is no denying that the Kyrgyzstan Kokpar team was well prepared and had skilfully trained their horses. But the Kazakh team was clearly superior,” he added.

“The friendship between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan is more valuable than any match result. Today Kazakhstan wins, tomorrow Kyrgyzstan will win,” Qojanazarov said.

The prediction quickly came true. Just a few hours later, Kyrgyzstan won its version of goat catching, defeating Kazakhstan 10-4 in Kok-Boru.

The four runners-up in the Kok Boru Championship – the USA, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Russia – must wait another day for the chance to be crowned world goat-grabbing champions.