Archery – Tshering Tobgay

Aiming for gold

September 11, 2012Sports8 Comments

Our population base is small. And we lack the resources. That’s why it’s almost impossible to bring home medals in any sport from any recognized international competition. But what if we had about 1500 sportsmen, spread across the country, all using the latest equipment, and all putting in long training hours to compete in one national tournament? If that were to happen, we would then surely achieve the best international standards at that sport. In fact, that did happen, very recently. A record-breaking 260 teams, consisting of 1,560 archers, took part in the Yangphel Open Archery Tournament. The tournament,…

Ridiculous fun!

September 4, 2009Culture

Our Yangphel Archery season came to a sudden end this afternoon. Team ZIMDRA played TANDIN’S POP n ALL and GADEN PHUNSUM in the last of eight quarterfinal matches. All three teams had decided that they must win to proceed to the semifinals – it would be too difficult to outdo NAMSEYCHOILNG R’s 43 kareys for the only wild card spot. With each of the three teams winning a set each by the 12th round, the three-way contest had become interesting. And, most of the spectators predicted that the winner would be decided by a penalty shootout at the end…

Targeting the rain

August 21, 2009Culture, Economy

Yangphel Archery’s second knockout round began today. The 14 winning teams and 10 “joker” teams from this round will make it to the quarter finals. And the 8 winners plus one joker from the quarterfinals will play the semifinals. The tournament began on 4th July. And during the last seven weeks 182 matches were played. But, guess what, not a single match was postponed. The weather has held up remarkably well. For the archers, that is; not our farmers who, at this time of the year, need rain. So today, when I congratulated Tshewang Rinchen, the tournament’s secretary general,…

Yangphel’s record

July 12, 2009Culture

Yesterday, Tob Dhen Dhey accomplished what many archers considered the impossible: they shattered the 60-karey barrier by hitting 61 kareys in 15 rounds. That’s an average of 12.2 kareys per person. That’s an average of 4.07 team kareys per round. That’s impossible to beat. Yangphel has already entered Tob Dhen Dhey’s 61 kareys in their record books. Obviously all the Tob Dhen Dhey archers performed well. In fact, no one hit less than 10 kareys! And Ata Sonam hit 17 kareys in 15 rounds. That’s one short of the record held by Forest Namgay, Gem Tshering and Karma Tenzin.…

Yangphel’s gift

July 11, 2009Culture

A record 154 teams are participating in the 13th Yangphel Archery Tournament that began last Saturday. During the “league phase” of the tournament, each team will play three matches. And three teams compete against each other in match. So the stadium in Changlimithang will see a total of 154 league matches over six weeks. This year, for the first time since Yangphel started its tournament 13 years ago, the teams that qualify for the “knockout phase” will need to win two matches in order to get to the quarterfinal stage. Till last year, one win in the knockout phase…

Archery stars

June 15, 2009Culture

This week's featured photo is again about archery. The finals of the Silver Jubilee Coronation Tournament, which was, till 1998, called the Coronation Cup, concluded yesterday. As predicated, Team Phojas won the coveted trophy. But Team MPAB put up a good fight. They won the second game. And matched the Team Phojas karey for karey in the third game, which was far more interesting and competitive that what the final score showed (25-8). In a dramatic finish, Lop Kinley Tshering, MPAB's anchor, hit the target with his second arrow and cut Team Phojas' choenda, which had been planted by…

Archery finals

June 13, 2009Culture

The 2009 National Coronation Cup archery finals are being played in the Changlimithang grounds. Team Phoja, who are widely regarded as the strongest team this season, needed just four rounds to win the first game. The score: 25 - 0. And the time: only 10:30 AM. Most spectators were resigned to a quick second game, and hence the match, in favor of the much more superior team Phoja. Some even ventured that the match would be over before lunch. But team MPAB didn't give up. They began the second match by scoring points before team Phoja, preventing, much to…

Talo archery

June 8, 2009Culture

I was in Puankha over the weekend to participate in a friendly game of archery in Talo. The game was organized by the local people to celebrate the inauguration of the Talo Sherda library by Her Majesty the Queen Mother Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck. Built by the Zhabdrung, Talo's historic archery grounds have seen fierce competitions among many successive generations of the neighboring villages of Talo and Nobgang. And the tradition of the grueling four-day archery challenge between these two villages continues to be the highlight of the local calendar even today. This week's photo features team Talo-Nobgay distracting…