-June 4, 2009
The moment he drew his bowstring pointed his arrow toward the target and took aim, it made the opponent archers jittery.They knew he was a sure shot.
Acquiring skills unparalleled by many of his contemporaries, 72 year old Sha Bodhi, from Sha Phayul in Wangduephodrang, was always a name reckoned with on the archery range .He was a famous sharp shooter who hit the target with much calculated accuracy. Read more…
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Archery is the national sport of Bhutan, and every village has it own archery range. competitions, usually accompanied by a banquet, are a part of all festive occasions. Using bamboo bows (although modern compound bows are finding their way into the kingdom) teams of archers shoot at targets only 30 centimetres in diameter from a distance of 120 metres. Each team has a noisy crowd of supporters who, as well as encouraging their own side and try to out off the opposition. The game of archery is not exactly a sport that draws frenzied supporters out for a kill. There are no die-hard fans and no follow-the-team-to-kingdom-come fanatics. And no streaking hooligans.If anyone is all pumped up, it is the archers themselves… To the Bhutanese, it’s a tourist sport and a very saleable one at that too. It has tremendous tourist appeal. Archery is tradition; it’s songs and dances and jeers and near-primitive howls. It’s the works to someone seeking the unusual. All that could be just a facade. Read more…
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