At the “Ukhaa Khudag 2022” festival, organised by Energy Resources — a supporter of cultural heritage — on 12–13 August in Tsogttsetsii soum, Umnugobi aimag, wrestlers from across the region took to the field, fast horses showed their stamina and marksmen tested their accuracy, as people celebrated together on the open Gobi plain.

At the Ukhaa Khudag festival, 128 wrestlers with national, aimag and soum titles, 32 junior wrestlers and 48 wrestlers representing Energy Resources employees competed. In the main wrestling, soum-level Elephant S. Bayarbaatar came first and soum-level Elephant S. Bayartugulder was runner-up. In the employees’ wrestling, S. Davaasuren of the Infrastructure Department of Energy Resources, a soum-level Elephant, came first and A. Ikhtenger of “Public Service” was runner-up.

In the horse racing, 140 fast horses in five age categories from 11 aimags competed. Among the older horses, the bay of Distinguished Trainer of the aimag U. Munkhtaivan from Manlai soum, Umnugobi aimag, came first; among the five-year-olds, the black of trainer B. Khurelbaatar from Tsogttsetsii soum, Umnugobi aimag; among the four-year-olds, the dun of Distinguished Trainer of the aimag G. Batnyam from Tsogttsetsii soum, Umnugobi aimag; among the three-year-olds, the chestnut of trainer G. Battsengel from Tsogttsetsii soum, Umnugobi aimag; and among the two-year-olds, the light bay colt of Distinguished Trainer of the aimag D. Togtokh from Tsenkher soum, Arkhangai aimag — bringing joy to their trainers and young riders.

In the archery, 103 highly ranked archers with national and aimag titles and 34 junior archers took part. In the men’s adult category, Master of Sport P. Otgonsuren came first; in the women’s adult category, the aimag’s Outstanding Archer Ch. Erdenechimeg; among the junior male archers, Ts. Duurenjargal; and among the junior female archers, Mongolia’s Young Marksman A. Tsolmon-Erdene.

In the anklebone shooting, 184 shooters from 23 teams with national, aimag and soum titles competed. In the team event, the “MAK” team led by Mongolia’s Outstanding Marksman N. Bat-Erdene of Dornogobi aimag took first place, while in the individual finger-shot event N. Tuvshinbileg, an archer of Energy Resources from Tsogttsetsii soum, Umnugobi aimag, came first, and in the individual flick-shot event B. Erdene, Honoured Archer of Mongolia from Khanbogd soum, Umnugobi aimag, came first, to the delight of the crowd.

During the festival there were also circus performances, a children’s singing competition, evening entertainment and live music, involving more than 100 performers.

Our thanks once again to the wrestlers, distinguished trainers and expert archers who travelled to test their strength and skill, and to everyone who joined the “Ukhaa Khudag 2022” festival, held in the traditional way for the 12th year!