Head coach of Kazakhstan national shooting team Anvar Yunusmetov told Tengrinews.kz about the details of the recent incident in Kuwait where the 'anthem' from Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan movie was played at awarding of Kazakhstan sportswoman Maria Dmitriyenko.
"Before the awarding ceremony we applied to the organizers and asked them if they have Kazakhstan national anthem," Yunusmetov said. The organizers gave a positive answer and showed the coach a stack of records of the anthems of different countries, that included the one of Kazakhstan. But it turned out, that the organizers downloaded the 'anthem' from the Internet. "During awarding of the Serbian team, they played an anthem of the different country. Then came the turn of Maria Dmitriyenko to receive her award. She went up on the podium and the anthem discrediting Kazakhstan started," the coach said.
According to Yunusmetov, Kazakhstan national team submitted an official complaint to the organizers and told them about their mistake. "We gave them a real Kazakhstan anthem to listen. They offered their apologies and the next day three flags were raised, everyone stood up and the real anthem was played. At this stage we asked the organizers to offer an official apology to Kazakhstan," he said.
