Mass sports action “One Country! One Destiny! One leader!”, held at "Astana-Arena" Stadium on the Day of the First President, was attended by Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Addressing the young, Nursultan Nazarbayev said:

- When electing me the President of Kazakhstan, you entrusted me with a great responsibility. And all these years I carried out the will of all Kazakhstanis. All the victories of our country belong to Kazakhs. Together we have built an independent republic, made it famous around the world.

We raised our economy to the level of the Central and Eastern Europe. For the first time in its history, we have constructed a new capital. In the recent years Astana has become the center of major world events. More recently, we have won the right to host "EXPO-2017". The theme of the exhibition is "The energy of the future." A new innovative complex for development of advanced technologies will be built in Astana, he promised.

We are proud of our common home - the Republic of Kazakhstan. I see your eyes, your energy and youth. I wish you happiness, long life and success.

The President recalled that the holidays like the current mass sports action is not Kazakhstan’s invention, similar actions have been held in the U.S. for 130 years, as well as in some other countries. The sport action is a set of sport tests, measuring the level of physical fitness of schoolchildren and students, and it is held regularly in Kazakhstan since 1996.

This time it was held in Astana on 16 Oct-16 Nov in such sports as swimming, running, lifting, jumping, and throwing the ball. 17 thousand students, schoolchildren of fifth, 9th and 11th grades took part in it. After the first round of the tests 500 strongest participants were chosen, seven of whom have gone through all kinds of competitions. All of them were awarded with certificates and flowers from Serik Sapiyev - two-time world champion, Olympic boxing champion, winner of the Val Barker prize, the hero of London 2012.

1700 young athletes were involved in the show at the 30000-seat stadium "Astana-Arena". Serik Sapiyev and Madina Sadvakasova were the presenters of the show.

Final show was really grand: a synchronized performance of the sports exercises, which symbolized aspirations of the younger generation for a healthy lifestyle.

Bektur KADYROV

Photo: Igor Burgandinov