Almaty, 23 August 2024

These competitions allow golfers to earn ranking points and go to the Olympics. The general sponsor of the tournament was Eurasian Private Banking of Eurasian Bank.

From 13 to 15 August, the Zhailjau Almaty Golf Club hosted the Kazakhstan Cup 2024, which is included in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) for the first time in the history of Kazakhstani golf. The tournament was attended by leading amateur golfers from Kazakhstan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Russia.

The World Amateur Golf Ranking covers over 6,000 tournaments and distributes ranking points among more than 7.5 thousand amateur golfers. The main goal of WAGR is to identify the best amateur golfers around the world, taking into account their results over the past two years at tournaments recognized by it.

The earned ranking points allow amateur athletes to compete at major international competitions, including the Olympic Games, which is of high importance in conditions of high competition with the players of the professional tour.

Given the high status of the competition, the matches at the Kazakhstan Cup 2024 were held in the format of strikes without handicap. The tournament also consisted of three rounds of 18 holes each.

All participants of the tournament demonstrated a high level of skill and rivalry: the fight for prizes went literally to the very last blows. The presence of a Hole-in-one was also a confirmation of the high-quality mark of Kazakhstan Cup 2024 — on the last day of the competition, Kazakhstani Alen Tanatarov managed to hit the hole with one stroke, which happens quite rarely even at higher-level competitions.

According to the results of three competition days among men Vladimir Orlov from Russia became the winner. Kazakhstanis Duman Koybagarov and Bauyrzhan Sarkytbayev took second and third places, respectively. In the women’s tournament, the champion of Kazakhstan Cup 2024 was our compatriot Dilyara Bulambayeva, Glafira Pomazkova from Russia took the second place, and Danel Daniy (Kazakhstan) finished on the third line.

The winner in the men’s category turned out to be 15-year-old Russian representative Vladimir Orlov, who was very impressed with his triumph.

“This is my first win at a WAGR-level tournament. I played very well on the final day of the competition, although the previous day was not very successful. The victory was won literally on the last holes, so I am happy that I managed to overcome all this. I really enjoyed playing here, the competition was high, the opponents were very serious. We kept them in suspense for three days. I wish to thank the sponsors and partners of the competition who managed to hold such a wonderful tournament,” said the winner of the competition.

The champion of Kazakhstan Cup 2024 Dilyara Bulambayeva, as it turned out, not for the first time performs at competitions under the auspices of WAGR – the athlete studies at a US university and periodically participates in these competitions. She also shared another piece of news: in the summer of 2024, Dilyara joined the national team of Kazakhstan.

“The tournament was organized at the highest level. This is the first such tournament in Kazakhstan, and I think everything went very well. I am proud of the way the federation and sponsors conducted this tournament. Thank them for supporting golf,” the Kazakhstani said. She also noted the high competition at the tournament, but emphasized that despite the fact that with some participants she is friends in life, on the field she tries to compete at the maximum strength. “The opponents were very strong. The first two days I was a little nervous, but on the third day I gathered myself and played the way I know how. I am very happy with my victory. This is a significant achievement for me,” Dilyara Bulambayeva added.

At the closing ceremony of the tournament, President of the Golf Federation of Kazakhstan Berik Kaniyev noted that holding the tournament under the auspices of WAGR is a significant event for Kazakhstani golf, and the tournament itself promises to become traditional.

“We will make the Kazakhstan Cup 2024 at least an annual event. We will try to hold these WAGR tournaments more often, perhaps twice a year. I want to tell Kazakhstani golfers to progress faster and achieve success… I think that soon we will be able to participate in the Olympic Games. This is our goal for the coming years,” the Head of the Federation said.

He also drew attention to the high skill and uncompromising struggle of the participants of the tournament. “We all witnessed an intense competitive struggle. Our Federation strives to ensure that there is always fair competition at our tournaments, sports wrestling with positive emotions, so that all participants get satisfaction from the matches. Sport should unite and help establish communication. And we did it,” Berik Kaniyev noted.

Later, the President of the Golf Federation of Kazakhstan told in more detail about the importance of holding tournaments under the auspices of WAGR in Kazakhstan and how realistic it is for Kazakhstanis to get to the Summer Olympics.

“Firstly, our athletes will be able to compete with high-level golfers from different countries, and this is very important for the development of young people. Secondly, at tournaments of this level, technical factors are very important from an organizational point of view, the level of judging of the competitions, and the exact observance of all rules. Athletes have to get used to it all. But the most important thing is that the high results shown at such tournaments allow golfers to earn ranking points that will allow them to participate in higher-level tournaments in the future. Including at the Olympic Games. We really set ourselves such a task. But, of course, we need to raise the level of the game even more. There are all prerequisites for Kazakhstani golfers to qualify for the Olympics. Yes, it is very difficult to get there, because the level of competition in this sport is prohibitive. But we have to fight,” Berik Kaniyev added.

The Head of the Federation also thanked the partners of Kazakhstan Cup 2024, highlighting the support of Eurasian Private Banking of Eurasian Bank as the general sponsor of the tournament. “Together with the Private Club of Eurasian Bank, we are implementing many golf-related projects. They help us in organizing tournaments and purchasing various equipment. This help is truly invaluable,” Berik Kaniyev noted.

It should be noted that in 2024, Eurasian Bank became the general sponsor of the Golf Federation of Kazakhstan and the Children’s Golf Academy. The Bank provides financial support to these organizations in the development of golf in the Republic, and also helps to develop cooperation with golf federations of countries located on the Great Silk Road — Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Tatarstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.