Thinley Namgay

Chukha won the 16th National Inter-Dzongkhag Taekwondo Championship at Taekwondo Training Centre in Thimphu yesterday.

A total of 214 participants—107 male and 107 female—from 17 dzongkhags took part in the competition.

There were no participants from Zhemgang, Dagana and Gasa.

Chukha secured 56 points winning seven gold, one silver and four bronze medals.  Wangdue came second with 34 points bagging three gold, four silver and one bronze. With 30 points, Mongar secured the third place with two gold, four silver and four bronze.

BTF’s programme officer Sonam Tshewang said the competition was for first phase identification of talented athletes. “For this tournament, we didn’t allow national players.”

The second phase of the competition, for black belters, will be conducted at Gelephu in Sarpang from January 17 to 19.

“In the final round, we will give two weeks training to the selected athletes from the previous competitions in Thimphu to compete for the top 16 national players,” said Sonam Tshewang.

Chukha’s assistant coach, Phuntsho Tashi, said that Chukha had won the championship for three consecutive years. “I am very happy. We had two weeks of intensive training at Gedu College and our hard work was rewarded.  Fifteen participants with eight girls and seven boys took part this time.”

Dawa Jamtsho, 21, is one of the participants from Chukha and is currently pursuing the Bachelor of Commerce at Gedu College of Businees Studies.

In an earlier interview, Dawa Jamtsho said that Chukha would win the competition. “We had good training and everyone performed well.”

Chukha took home a cash prize of Nu 25,000. Wangdue and Mongar were awarded Nu 15,000 and Nu 10,000 respectively.

The two-day competition organised by Bhutan Taekwondo Federation (BTF) ended yesterday.