The World Wrestling Championships 2019 is set to kick off in the Kazakh capital on September 14. Its official mascot snow leopard Namys was unveiled ahead of the championships. Namys is dressed up in a blue and yellow colored uniform representing the colors of the Kazakh national flag.

The snow leopard is a sacred symbol of the Kazakh people and their ancestors. It should be mentioned that winners of the championships will earn over 100 berths in the Tokyo Olympics. Bringing together almost a thousand of the world’s best athletes, the tournament will take place at the Barys Arena and run from September 14 through 22. The top six finishers in each Olympic weight category in Astana will secure an Olympic qualification for their country.

For the first time in its history Kazakhstan will host the 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships, an annual wrestling tournament organized by United World Wrestling.

While hosting the World Wrestling Championships will be a first for Kazakhstan, hosting major sporting competitions is not.

In 2011, Astana and Almaty welcomed the VII Winter Asian Games, where athletes from 27 countries competed. The Kazakn government spent $1.6 billion on the effort – about the same amount Italy and Canada spent on hosting the Winter Olympics in 2006 and 2010, respectively. In 2017, it held Winter Universiade, a multi-sport event that saw athletes from 55 countries compete in 12 disciplines. In 2014 Astana held the Asian Wrestling Championships, and in 2018 the Grappling World Cup.

The 2019 Senior Wrestling World Championships will be the 15th edition of its kind since 2003, when the organizers united three different wrestling tournaments – the men’s Greco-Roman wrestling tournament, the men’s freestyle wrestling tournament, and the women’s freestyle championships.