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Mounted archery
An ancient martial art of the steppe peoples, turned into a modern sport in Hungary by Lajos Kassai.
Shooting from a galloping horse was the main fighting method of the Huns, the Turks and the early Hungarians, whose horsemen were known across Europe for this skill in the 9th–10th centuries.
In the late 20th century the bowyer and archer Lajos Kassai (b. 1960) revived the tradition, drawing up competition rules, founding a school and turning mounted archery into a modern sport, for which he received the Hungarian Order of Merit.
Mounted archery is now practised in Hungary, Türkiye, Kazakhstan and elsewhere, and its contests are a central part of the Kurultáj.
Sources
Updated: October 3, 2026