Bhutan United lifts Sikkim CM’s archery Gold Cup in Gangtok

GANGTOK: Bhutan United lifted the twelfth edition of the Chief Minister’s Archery Gold Cup today, outplaying fellow archers from Bhutan, Penden Cement at the Sikkim Archery Association archery field at Tathangchen.
In a very tightly played final match, Bhutan United emerged victorious 42-38.
The final match had Speaker, Sikkim Legislative Assembly, KT Gyaltsen, as the chief guest, accompanied by the Sports Minister, NK Pradhan, as the guest of honour, and PHE Minister, TT Bhutia, who is also the SAA president.

At the end of the pre-lunch session, Bhutan United was ahead 32 points to Penden Cement’s 22.
Since both the teams failed to reach the victory points of 51 points even at the end of the regulation time at 4 p.m, Bhutan United which was slightly ahead at the time with a quiver of 42 points against Penden Cement’s 38, was declared the winner of the match.
The winning team took home Rs 51,000 in cash prize, plus Rs 5,000 contributed by the chief guest, while Rs 25,000 plus Rs 3,000 from the chief guest went to the runners-up team.
Chewang Dorjee of Bhutan United was adjudged the Man of the Series and Man of the Final Match for his outstanding performance. He hit the highest number of targets in the tournament.
The final match was also attended by the Penden Cement Managing Director, Tashi Tshering.
A total of 15 teams from across the state and Bhutan had taken part in the tournament organised by the Sikkim Archery Association, which had started on 09 April.
For the first time, three teams from Bhutan - Thimpu United, Bhutan United [Pheuntsoling] and Penden Cement – participated in the tournament.

Sikkim Archers string up for North East Games 2011

GANGTOK: An 11-member archery team is all set to represent Sikkim at the upcoming North East Games scheduled to be held in Arunachal Pradesh from 25 April. The state archers will be taking part in the Indian Round and Recurve events in the championship. It is the first time that the state is participating in the Recurve event.
To encourage the team, Sikkim Archery Association [SAA] President, TT Bhutia, who is also the PHE Minister, and other executive members of the SAA met yesterday at Paljor Stadium.

Speaking to the archers, Mr Bhutia encouraged the team members to play in the right spirit and stressed on maintaining discipline during the tournament. The Minister mentioned that the state government has also given priority to the sport through cash incentives and other facilities and urged them to take full advantage of these opportunities provided by the government.
Likewise, other executive members of the SAA have also expressed their best wishes to the team. Chief coach, Zigmee Y Lepcha, mentioned that apart from the regular training the team has undergone a 15-day special coaching camp with the newly provided Recurve equipments by the Sports Department. He mentioned that the team members are quite positive and confident of a good performance in the championship.
Satya Rai, Bimal Rai, Arpan Rai and Bikram Rai will represent Sikkim in Indian Round [Men], while women’s category has Dawdey Bhutia, Seema Rai and Pemkit Lepcha. Recurve [men] has Yogesh Limboo, Bhupen Rai, Suraj Subba and Dev Raj Rai.
The team accompanied by State Chief Archery Coach, Zigmee Y Lepcha and Chunkula Bhutia as the manager, will be leaving on Friday for the North East Games.

Two-day tribal archery competition @Gangtok concluded

GangtokNov13: The 5th State level tribal archery competition with 56 participants from all the four districts, 32 men and 24 women, which began on Tuesday, November 10, was concluded on Wednesday at Paljor Stadium here. The competition was organized by Sikkim Archery Association (SAA).
Mr. N K Pradhan, Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Department (SYAD) was chief guest on the concluding day. Mr. Dorjee Namgyal, MLA, Gangtok, Mr. T T Bhutia, Minister, SNT, PHE and President of SAA, Mr. H K Chettri, Secretary, SYAD were guests on the occasion. Two archery Olympians of India, Mr. Tarun Deep Rai and Ms. Dola Banarjee and National coach Mr. Ran Bahadur Tamang were present to witness the competition final.
The competition was in two categories, men and women. Mr. Yogesh Limboo of south district with 617 points ranked 1st among boys and Ms. Ongchok Choden Bhutia of east district with 457 points got 1st position in girls category.
Tarun Deep Rai, who recently won individual gold in Asian Ground Prix Championship in Bangladesh, and his coach R B Tamang informed that to expose local talents, they have prepared a project for an archery institute in the State. Mr. Tamang said he has worked hard for 17 years to complete the project.

Sikkim promotes traditional sports

Gangtok, Sep 17(ANI): In order to preserve the essence of its culture, Sikkim is trying to revive its age-old traditional sports like archery, and bamboo fight, which are an indispensable ingredient of the culture of the state.

In order to preserve the indigenous culture, which is being taken over by sports like Mountain Biking, Trekking, River Rafting and Yak Safari, people residing in Kyonsa village organized various cultural events organized by Kyonsa Samaj organizing committee.
Our main aim is to popularize the old system of sports. We mainly focus on Footballs, Volleyball and Archery. Our endeavor is to keep the traditional old style of sports in our rural areas. And the most important thing is to entertain the public," said Sonam Bhutia, member of Kyonsa Samaj organizing committee.

A large number of people turned out to witness and take part in the event.
"As a young Sikkimese what I feel is that such rural sports encourage and bring out the best in the villagers who come out from various remote areas. All Sikkim people, they come out and gather for the big occasion. The rural sports bring back the old charm feeling. It preserves the dying out traditional sports," said Anand Lepcha, a local.
Such initiatives will go a long way in preserving the identity of the people of Sikkim and will ensure that the future generation remains connected to its traditions.

(ANI)