Archery : The National Game of Bhutan

Archery is the National Game of Bhutan Played Throughout the year. It is played in open area where the range would be around 120 Meters - 150 meters from each Target to other depending on the kind of tournament and match.There are two kind of instrument used by the archer, the traditional instrument which is made of Bamboo and other the Imported Compound Bow from Abroad. Archery is the most popular game among the Bhutanese people. Older people who preferred to use the Traditional Made Bow and Arrows, whilst the modern age people use the Compound Bow and Arrow. The Archery Game is Played between two teams and the point is scored from the maximum on the target, each player get two arrows to shoot from one range and the opposition players takes the next shot in alternative system.

With every hit on the target, teammates celebrates by dancing on both the ranges. The points are calculate on the merge of highest hits (Karey) by the teams.

Archery in Bhutan is played everywhere, be it in the town area or the village. With the coming of modern age, most people in urban preferred to have Compound Bow and Arrows which cost around $ 800-1500 per set. In Rural Area and Villages Archery is played amongst the local Villages group where each village to have a certain limits of players, the game is played against villages and the champion is decided on the basic of numbers of round or sets.In olden days and still in some part of the villages, archery rules the villages supremacy over other villages where they compete against the best archer in the villages.

The Archery Games attract huge numbers of crowd during the Losar or New years eve where people gather and watch their villages archer edge past over the other villages archer, the archer range or the target would be decorated and the host villages have their own cheers leader girls disturbing the enemy villages while taking aim or the shots. The competition last for around three days and the winner is decide at the end with maximum number of rounds win or sets. With Delicious food and wine served for the archer through out the match in progress, the treat would be an awesome for everyone to be part of the game.

Archery Match and Tournament are held in Urban ares like Thimphu, Paro , Wangdue and other places. The Most popular Archery Tournament in Bhutan is the Yangphel Open which is open to all and there are certain rules while choosing a players as the organizer permit only one or two seeded/top player in each team. All the Archer tires it best to perform in The Yangphel Open which is prestigious tournament and the prizes are attractive from Television Sets to MP3 players for the Best Archer. The Tournament is played using compound bow, Thousand of people come to watch the tournament as it is played in the National Archery Ground in Changlimithang.


Bhutan Archer Participates in the Olympic games as well with top archer being Tshering Choden, Bhutan also participates in the Asian Games, SAF Games and other International Tournament.