Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country mostly in Central Asia, with a part in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, with a coastline along the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Astana, while the largest city and leading cultural and commercial hub is Almaty. Kazakhstan is the world's ninth-largest country by land area and the largest landlocked country. It has a population of 20 million and one of the lowest population densities in the world, at fewer than 6 people per square kilometre. Ethnic Kazakhs constitute a majority, while ethnic Russians form a significant minority. Officially secular, Kazakhstan is a Muslim-majority country with a sizeable Christian community.
Astana, formerly known as Nur-Sultan, Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, and Akmola, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.
Kevin Jonathan Dallman is a Canadian-Kazakhstani former professional ice hockey defenceman. He most recently played for Barys Astana of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Kazakhstan's former long-term President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has challenged sports organizers to engage 30 percent of the country's population in sports. The state has numerous sports clubs where people participate in various types of sports; sport facilities are available to the general public. Kazakhstan currently hosts major international tournaments; Astana and Almaty hosted the VII Asian Winter Games 2011, which drew teams from 27 countries.
The Federation of International Bandy is the international governing body for the sport of bandy, including the variant called rink bandy. The federation is headquartered in Simrishamn Municipality, Sweden.
Nigel Alexander Dawes is a Canadian-Kazakhstani former professional ice-hockey winger. He played 212 games in 5 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, and Montreal Canadiens.
Football in Kazakhstan is governed by the national body the Football Federation of Kazakhstan. The FFK organises the men's, women's and futsal national teams. Football is the most popular sport in the country, followed by ice hockey.
The Astana Arena is a football stadium in Astana, Kazakhstan. The stadium holds 30,000 and has a retractable roof. It serves as the national stadium for the Kazakhstan national football team. Astana Arena is the largest stadium in the country and it was built from 2006 to 2009 at a cost of $185 million, and was officially opened on 3 July 2009. It is also a home ground for FC Astana of the Kazakhstan Premier League and FC Bayterek of the Kazakhstan First Division. The stadium hosted the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Winter Games on 31 January 2011. Astana Arena was one of the venues to bid to host UEFA Euro 2020 matches.
The Pro Hokei Ligasy. formerly known as The Republic of Kazakhstan Open Ice Hockey Championship(Kazakh: Шайбалық хоккей бойынша Қазақстан Республикасының ашық чемпионаты, Russian: Открытый Чемпионат Республики Казахстан по хоккею с шайбой), commonly referred to as Kazakh Hockey Championship, is an annual ice hockey award and national title, bestowed to the winning ice hockey team in Kazakhstan, founded in 1992.
The International Ice Hockey Federation is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 82 member countries.
The Junior Hockey League (JHL) (Russian: Молодежная Хоккейная Лига (МХЛ), romanized: Molodezhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga), sometimes translated as the Minor or Youth Hockey League, is a major junior ice hockey league in Eurasia, founded in 2009. It currently consists of 33 teams from 3 countries. Currently, all teams but one are subsidiaries (feeder teams) for their respective KHL or VHL professional counterparts. A player's age cannot be older than 20. The Kharlamov Cup, named after star ice hockey player Valeri Kharlamov, is awarded annually as the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia's official Junior Championship, following a 16-team playoff at the end of the regular season.
Hockey Club Barys, also referred to as Barys Astana or HC Barys, is a professional ice hockey team based in Astana, Kazakhstan. It is one of the founding members of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). They play in the league's Chernyshev Division of the Eastern Conference. Their home arena is the Barys Arena, where they have played since the 2015–16 KHL season. Prior to 2015, the team played home games at the Kazakhstan Sports Palace for 14 seasons, beginning in 2001. The head coach is David Nemirovski and the president is Boris Ivanishchev. The team serves as a base club for the Kazakhstan national ice hockey team.
Ice hockey at the 2011 Asian Winter Games was held in Astana (males) and Almaty (females) in Kazakhstan from 28 January to 6 February.
The Baluan Sholak Sports Palace or Bolyan Sholak Sports Palace is a Palace of Sports in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan. It was built in 1967 and extensively renovated in 2009–2011. It is named after Baluan Sholak, a celebrated Kazakh composer, singer, poet, dombra player, dzhigit and wrestler.
The Kazakhstan Sports Palace is a palace of sports in Astana, Kazakhstan. It is the home of Nomad Astana and HC Astana of the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship, and Snezhnye Barsy junior hockey team of the Junior Hockey League. It seats 4,070 spectators for ice hockey.
Astana is home to many sports teams.
Nikita Yurevich Mikhailis is a Kazakhstani professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Mikhailis began playing professionally at the age of 16 with the Nomad Astana of the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship. He played one season with Nomad, during which time he was selected 121st overall by the Barys in the 2012 KHL Junior Draft. In 2012, he began playing major junior hockey with the Barys' junior league affiliate Snezhnye Barsy of the Junior Hockey League (MHL) for three seasons. In 2014–15, he began playing for Barys and register 4 points in the regular season.
The Kazakhstan Basketball Cup is the national men's professional basketball cup competition in the country of Kazakhstan. It is organised annually over a few days in a single location by the National Basketball Federation Kazakhstan. Its official designation in full is: Basketball Cup of the Republic of Kazakhstan for men's teams Кубка Республика Казахстан по баскетболу среди мужских команд).
The history of Barys Astana Kontinental Hockey League team dates back to 1999.
Halyk Arena Ice Palace is a palace of sports and culture in Almaty, Kazakhstan, built in 2016 for the 2017 Winter Universiade. The venue is designed for such sports events as ice hockey, figure skating and other sports.
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk 
Barys Astana (4)
