ASTANA. July 27. KAZINFORM /Zhanna Korkitova/ Up to 30 percent of Kazakhstanis should have been involved in mass sport till 2020.

Chairman of the Committee on Sports of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of Kazakhstan Yelsiyar Kanagatov made it public at the meeting with journalists on the eve of the Day of Sport on Tuesday.

'Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized the importance of development of sport and healthy lifestyle and this is one of prior goals of the Ministry', Y. Kanagatov said.

'Healthy nation starts from kindergartens and schools', he said noting that school's physical education lessons and sports groups were the basis that it all stood on. Currently there are 425 sports schools in Kazakhstan. Besides, there are special schools for gifted children and centers for training Olympic Reserve. Each region in our country has such schools. There are 17 Olympic centers in Astana and Almaty. Y. Kanagatov believes that the number of such centers should be increased. 'More sports facilities should be built and put into operation for creating the atmosphere attractive for young people to go into sport', Mr. Kanagatov said.