1^st Sept 2010                        had it not been for the single hit of Bhadur Rai of Lama Bakery, Druk Star would have won the lower bacho semi final with the end of the 15^th round. In the 15^th round and after series of tries by players of both the opponent teams, it was left to Bhadur shooting last, to stop Druk Star from completing their 2^nd game set which he did. His single shot gave the lifeline of penalty shootout to both the teams of Lama Bakery and Laya Tours. All of the teams had tied at one game set each.

In the penalty, Druk Star went on to win the shootout and the match with three kareys to one each of the opponents. In the match, Druk Star had hit 38 kareys against 35 of Laya Tours and 32 of Lama Bakery.

The winners of the upper bacho did not have to wait as long as the Druk Star to celebrate. By the end of 11^th round, Uma Paro had completed their third game set to almost seal their victory. The opponents of Hung and Tangmachu Charo had chance to make feat of completing 3 game sets consecutively but both of them were not able to complete any. By the 12^th round, no one needed to watch the game to know the result. It was some family members of teams and the umpire that watched the upper bacho match; everyone else was drawn to the lower bacho where all of the teams had to go into the penalty to decide the third finalist of the year 2010.

And the 2010 finalists are Druk Star, Pelden Group of Companies and Uma Paro. These three best teams of the year (from among 165 teams) will play the 14^th Yangphel Open Archery Tournament finals on Saturday 11^th Sept 2010.

31^st Aug 2010                       two of the nine best teams of 2010 are now out of the competition. Pelden Group of Companies proved too strong for Khadel and Druk Five. With total of 44 kareys, Pelden Group of Companies completed two game sets against one each of other semi finalists playing today.

Pelden Group completed the first game set in the 4^th round which was equalized in the 8^th round by Khadel and in 10^th round by Druk Five. And that’s when everyone expected a penalty shootout among all the three teams. Such hopes were reduced when Pelden Group completed their 2^nd kuu in the 13^th round. But still the hopes were kept alive till the last round for one of the opponent teams to equalize.

Khadel began the 14^th round strongly but ended giving points to Pelden Group. In the 15^th round, till the first arrow of Druk Five’s last archer, people hoped for an equalizing game set but they could not enough of difference to fulfill such expectations. Yet it was well contested game and kept the crowd engaged till the last minute.

And it is assured that the two of semi final matches tomorrow (1^st Sept) would keep all at the edge of their seats as Laya Tours, Druk Star and Lama Bakery battle at the lower bacho while at the upper bacho Uma Paro, Hung and Tangmachu Charo meet to decide the two finalist of year 2010.

One finalist is Pelden Group of Companies – one of the three best from 165 teams that started the tournament in July.

30^th Aug 2010                       the quarter finals of 2010 tournament ended with win of Laya Tours at lower bacho and Lama Bakery at the upper Changlimithang bacho today. Both the winners defeated some old hands in their matches. With 43 kareys and 2 game sets, Laya Tours defeated Quality Gases Pvt. Ltd. and Dawa InfoTech. The veterans of Quality Gases did hit 38 kareys but still was not able to complete a single game set.

The karey total of Quality Gases would have taken them to victory had it been at the upper bacho. Here, Lama Bakery with just 31 kareys completed one game set in the 6^th round. The single game set was enough to beat Dorji Lhaden Tshongkhang and Namsey Adventure. Dorji Lhaden hit 29 kareys and Namsey Adventure hit 24 kareys.

Dorji Lhaden’s Namgay Wangchuk – the three time champion hit 8 kareys and was reportedly ill that explained his poor form. Yet his poor form is the best most of the archers do hit. The ones with the best form, though, today were Namgay Dorji of Laya Tours and Dorji Gyeltshen of Quality Gases who each hit 12 kareys – the day’s individual high.

The team high of the day was produced by Laya Tours – a massive 43 kareys – the third highest of the stage.

The next stage of Semi Finals begin tomorrow (Aug 31^st) with Druk Five, Khadel and Pelden Group playing at the lower bacho. The other two semi finals will be played day after – the 1^st Sept.

29^th Aug 2010                       two top contending teams of the tournament are now out of the competition. The strong Dare Devils that won every match they had played till now lost to Uma Paro who had entered this stage as one of the ‘jokers’ or wild card entrants. Uma Paro completed 3 game sets with their 42 kareys against none of both Dare Devils and Fosters. Dare Devils did hit 37 kareys but was not able to group their hits in the same round to complete any game set.

Uma Paro completed their first game set by grouping their 5 kareys in the third round. Similarly for their third game set, they hit 6 kareys in the same 14^th round while their opponents were not able to make any hit.

The other strong team to be knocked out of the competition today was Joya Chundu. Joya Chundu was playing against Khadel and Takshen Chunduk at the lower bacho. Joya Chundu’s single game set completed in the 7^th round was equalized by Khadel only in the 15^th round. Khadel then went on to win the penalty shootout with two kareys to one. Khadel in total hit 38 kareys against 39 of Joya Chundu. The other losing team Tak Shen Chunduk, also a strong contender, hit 30 kareys.

The penalty shootout between Khadel and Joya Chundu was one of the most exciting parts of today’s quarter final matches. In tomorrow’s last two quarters, more excitement is expected as Talop Namgay Wangchuk play in upper bacho and Laya Tours – the top scorer of Knockout stages, play at the lower Changlimithang range.

28^th Aug 2010                       Rinzin Dorji saved the day for Tangmachu Charo today.  Had it not been for his kareys during the penalty with Namsey Resort, his team could have been out of competition instead. Rinzin shooting in the last of the sequence during the shootout equalized the earlier shots of opponents not once but twice. Both the times, his hit led to next shootout to decide the game and in the third shootout, his team mates made two bull’s eye hits. Rinzin’s shot became the foundation for their win.

His team Tangmachu Charo had to go into the penalty shootout with Namsey Resort after tying at one game set each. The other match participant USD Construction 1 was not able to complete any despite their 41 kareys. Tangmachu Charo had completed early game set in the 5^th round which was equalized in the 11^th round. The winner Tangmachu ended the match with 36 kareys while losing Namsey total 42 kareys.

Equally, if not more, competitive match was shot out at the upper bacho when Hung and Pelden Group hit 46 and 47 kareys during the match. The other opponent Samdrup Nga managed 28 kareys. Hung began strongly, completing a game set in very 2^nd round which could be equalized only in the 10^th round by Pelden Group. Till the 8^th round Hung led the game in total kareys and in spirit. And then Pelden Group began to stir, ultimately completing their 2^nd game set in the 14^th round and becoming one of the 2010 semi finalists.

Hung, could also become a semi finalists, by winning the single wild card available from the stage. Their 46 karey total is hard to match but one has to wait till the end of last quarter finals matches on 30^th Aug.

There are two more days and four matches to end the stage and matches would be as competitive if not more. There is Khadel, Joya Chundu and Takshen Chunduk playing against each other at lower bacho while Uma Paro, Dare Devils and Fosters play at upper bacho.