Thinley Namgay

Karma, a female archer with the Bhutan Archery Federation (BAF) became the first Bhutanese athlete to qualify for an Olympic quota.

The 29-year-old archer booked the spot in the recurve women’s archery at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics during the Asian continental qualification tournament held in Bangkok in November.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has, however, postponed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics until next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As per the IOC’s plan, the event was scheduled on July 24.

Despite these challenges, Karma keeps practising alone at her home in Langjophakha, Thimphu.

“I have been practising every day and I start early,” Karma said.

Karma is being coached by a Korean Olympian  Park Young Sook.

“All the sporting events are postponed at present, but athletes still have the opportunity to participate in various international competitions when it resume. It is essential to take our own initiative,” Karma said.

Karma is from Trashiyangtse. She started playing Olympic style archery since 2009 and made her international debut in 2012. She represented the country at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and also took part in the individual recurve archery event and the team-recurve at the 2013 and 2015 World Archery Championships held in Copenhagen, Denmark.