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Kazakhstan and South Korea partner up to grow biathlon: Federation leaders meet in Astana

An official meeting took place in Astana between the leadership of the Kazakhstan Biathlon Union and the Biathlon Federation of the Republic of Korea. The South Korean delegation was represented by Mr.Lee Hyuck Yul, President of the Korea Biathlon Federation and Mr. Deokeun Choi, Sports Director. The Kazakhstan delegation was led by Yermek Kizatov, President of the Kazakhstan Biathlon Union and Manas Ussenov, Secretary General. The main goal is simple: help both teams get stronger and build biathlon across Asia.
Kazakhstan and South Korea partner up to grow biathlon: Federation leaders meet in Astana

The two teams recently started training together before the Asian Summer Championships. Both sides now want to keep this going for both winter and summer seasons. Even though Kazakhstan and Korea compete against each other at the Asian Winter Games, training together helps both teams grow. Korea brings strong, experienced athletes like Timofey Lapshin (Two-time World Cup winner and two-time Olympian) and Ekaterina Avvakumova (Asian Winter Games champion and 5th-place finisher at the World Championships).

The leaders talked about the Asian Biathlon Committee, formed in 2023 in Shchuchinsk. The committee has already organized two Asian Summer Championships and the first IBU training camp for Asian countries. Participation is growing quickly: only 3 teams joined the first Asian Championship in 2022, but 7 teams competed this year.

The next Asian Winter Championships will take place in January 2027 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Before the next Asian Winter Games, the Korean team plans to train in Almaty and they invited the Kazakh team to train in South Korea.

This meeting sets up a great partnership between Kazakhstan and South Korea, helping both national teams prepare for big races and making biathlon more popular across Asia.

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