Astana, 24 October. Twelve-year-old Alikhan Nsanbayev from Uralsk finished fifth at the MultiGP World Championship 2026 drone racing world championship in Dallas, and a team of Kazakh schoolchildren came fifth at a drone soccer tournament in Long Beach, the Ministry of Education said.
The world championship in Dallas drew 830 competitors from 44 countries, of whom 69 pilots qualified. After the qualifying flights Nsanbayev made the 12-pilot final and finished fifth. He trains at the regional centre for technical creativity in Uralsk and competes for the Aspan team; his coaches are Kaisar Yessengali and Andrei Tishin.
At the USA Drone Soccer International Cup 2026 in Long Beach, Kazakhstan's national team finished fifth out of 16 teams from six countries. The team was made up of schoolchildren from Uralsk and Atyrau: Nauryzbek Yessetov, Aldiyar Baurzhan, Alikhan Nsanbayev and Altair Abilgaziyev. Drone soccer is a team game in which pilots fly drones inside protective cages and score by flying them, like a ball, through the opponents' ring.
The schoolchildren won their places at the national Kazakhstan Drone Championship & Cup, organised by the Ministry of Education's national centre for supplementary education and the Aspandrone public association with the support of Dronly Ltd. The same partners helped the team travel to the competitions.
Education Minister Zhuldyz Suleimenova met the young athletes at Astana airport. The ministry noted that drone sports competitions are held at regional and national level to find talented pupils and develop their engineering thinking.
What it means: Kazakh schoolchildren made the world top five in two drone sports disciplines at once, and one pilot did so in both.
Who benefits: The pupils and their coaches gain international experience and recognition. The Ministry of Education gets an argument for technical clubs. Private partners take part in preparing the team.
Background: MultiGP is an international drone racing league that holds a world championship every year. Earlier, schoolchildren from Astana and Aktobe took all three podium places in the Drone Soccer Class 20 team event at the FIDA USA Drone Soccer Championship.
