Twenty one-year-old Sonam Dema is one of the handful female archers in the country. She aspires to become Bhutan’s ace female archer like her idol Ki Bo Bae, a popular South Korean female archer who is currently world number one.
Sonam Dema left school three years ago to become an archer, her long time passion. She was then in her ninth grade. Since then, there has been no looking back.
Today, she is one of the three female archers who compete for the Bhutanese national team. “I chose to become an archer because it’s something new,” shares Sonam Dema.
“It’s a game played by men and when I heard of women taking it up, I decided to grab the opportunity. Even if I could not serve the country by studying hard, I thought I could do something by becoming an archer. I thought I could win medals for my country.”
Sonam did win medal for the country. She did Bhutan proud at the 12th South Asian Games held in India last year where she won bronze, her first medal at an international championship. Sonam has so far taken part in more than seven world championships.
She hopes to be able to bring home another medal from the upcoming 20th Asian Archery Championship in which she is taking part along with five other friends. The championship will be held in Bangladesh this month.
While the journey has been an exciting one so far, Sonam admits that it was not without a challenge. “In archery, whether its men or women, we have to carry the same bow and arrow,” said Sonam Dema.
“We obviously cannot play like men because we are not as strong as them physically and this is where we lag behind.”
There are also other challenges that are unique to women. “When we are on period, it’s difficult to focus on the game.”
While, it’s a challenging game to play, Sonam says women should come forward if they love the game. “Many girls think archery is for men and shy away from it. I would like to tell girls not to be shy and encourage them to play the game,” she said.
