Kazakhstan's first-ever drone race was held in 2023 in the city of Uralsk. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.

The first to take up this sport was the Aspandrone public association, led by Kaisar Yessengali. The head of the association told a Sputnik Kazakhstan correspondent about the level of drone sport in Kazakhstan and the issues that need to be resolved in this field.

How the first drone race went

The very first drone sport race took place three years ago. The organiser was the Aspandrone public association.

"Looking at foreign countries, competitions are constantly held there. We thought, why not organise such an event here. So we advertised through bloggers. Believe it or not, only 4 Kazakhstanis offered to participate. We barely found even them: one is an 11-year-old schoolboy who practices this sport, and three had no idea about it at all," says Kaisar Yessengali.

Foreigners who saw the advertisement expressed interest in participating in the first race in Kazakhstan. The race, planned to be small, turned into an international competition. 24 people competed, 20 of them foreign athletes.

"We had no experience, we asked around how to hold a race. A Uralsk patron supported us and put up 5 thousand dollars for first place. Receiving the participants from abroad, accommodating them in a hotel — the local entrepreneur took all of it on himself. So the first place was won by a Kazakh 11-year-old schoolboy from Karaganda, who received 5 thousand dollars," says Kaisar Yessengali.

"We are not empty-handed"

This result raised the status of our country's organisers. "Kazakhstan is not empty-handed in drone sport," they said and set about further development.

"In general, this sport is very honest, without any embellishment. Athletes do not buy a ready-made drone, they assemble it. Like Formula 1, they choose the motor, frame, camera and enter the programme. Reaction, sport, adrenaline — that is its peculiarity. A drone athlete must pass obstacles at various distances at very high speed with his drone. This race is very difficult, everything is open, clear, obvious, there is no deception," says Kaisar Yessengali, head of the Aspandrone public association.

In three years, the organisers of Kazakh drone sport have achieved many successes. This sport has begun to open in schools and palaces of schoolchildren. Even the Ministry of Education issued a decree on opening additional clubs to develop drone sport alongside robotics classrooms.