The grand opening of the X Asia-Pacific Games took place in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur,El.kz reports with reference to the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
About 1,300 athletes with speech and hearing impairments from 24 countries participate in the competition. Participants will compete in 10 sports: in athletics, taekwondo, judo, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, table tennis, badminton, chess, bowling and football.
Kazakhstan is represented by 80 athletes in eight sports, including athletics, taekwondo, judo, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, table tennis, badminton and chess.
Kairatbek Seitbekov, head of sports department at the sports training center for persons with disabilities noted that The Kazakh team has been competing in the Asia-Pacific Deaf Games since 1996 and this is the fifth participation. Before the games, athletes underwent training in Bishkek, Issyk-Kul, Karaganda, Shymkent, Almaty and Almaty region.
Kazakhstan has already won two medals in chess. Balzhan Zhumagaziyeva secured gold in the women’s blitz with a score of 8 points and Samazhan Kettebekov took the silver at the men’s blitz (8.5 points)
The competition will last until December 8.