Bhutanese ace recurve archer, Karma, is placed 54th from a total of 68 recurve women archers competing at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

During the ranking round that was held yesterday at the Gelora Bung Karno archery range in Jakarta, Karma made a total of 587 points in two rounds.

Karma’s highest rank came in the first round when she made a total of 307 points placing her in the 38th position. However, her performance declined in the second round where she made 280 points and was placed at the 59th position.

The 28-year-old archer was the flag bearer for the Bhutanese contingent during the opening ceremony of the games on August 18. She is ranked 235th (recurve individual) in the world as of August 1 this year.

Another women recurve archer, Sonam Dema, also qualified for the elimination rounds of the Asian Games after clinching the 60th position during the ranking round.

The 21-year-old made 560 points in two rounds hitting six 10’s and two X’s in the process. As of August 1, Sonam Dema is ranked 227 in the world (individual recurve).

In the men’s category, Kinley Tshering with 615 points was ranked 60th among the 79 archers who qualified for the elimination rounds. Nima Wangdi and Lham Dorji who were ranked 67 and 69 respectively also made it into the elimination rounds of the men’s recurve archery category.

The recurve team also qualified into the knockouts after securing the 19th position among the 24 teams.

Meanwhile, three taekwondo athletes exited the competition at the end of day three of the Asian Games.

Lham Tshering, after the disqualification of her opponent from Tajikistan, entered the quarterfinals in the +67kg category. The 17-year-old however, lost to Korea’s Dabin Lee, 24-0 in the quarterfinals yesterday.

Kinzang Choden lost to Nepal’s Gyani Chunari 28-6 during the round of 16 knockouts. In the +80 men’s category, Tenzin Lhendup was defeated 12-1 at the hand of Thailand’s Nattapat Tantramart.

With five Bhutanese athletes eliminated, only three (all men) remain in taekwondo. Seven boxers, eight archers and a golf player are yet to compete in the main events of the games.

China continues to lead in the medal tally with 23 gold, 15 silver and 11 bronze medals as of 6:30pm BST. Twenty-five countries including Bhutan are yet to register a medal in the competition.

Younten Tshedup | Jakarta 

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