INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightMichelle Jana ChanTraditional Bhutanese archery is for men only - even though the country's women archers have had great
success in the modern sport
As Michelle Jana Chan reports, Olympic archer Dorji Dema is assembling a team of women to put this right.I hope I've got the right house…
I walk past a potato patch to the front door
There's no knocker, so I call out
Dorji Dema appears at the doorway, a visibly toned and youthful 35-year-old in a tight orange T-shirt
She's an archer, and archery is Bhutan's national sport.Long associated with victories over invading forces, archery has been practised for
Most villages have at least one range and contests are integral to the numerous religious festivals.As I travelled across Bhutan, inside its
monasteries and temples I'd seen statues and paintings of figures holding bamboo bows, often pulled back taut, aimed at their enemies
Some were male, others fantastical creatures; none looked anything like the woman in front of me.Dorji smiles shyly and apologises for her
Shorter than me, with a friendly smile and her hair tied back with a ribbon, she doesn't fill me with fear, but Bhutanese men quake when she
lifts her weapon.Image copyrightAlamyImage caption
Fresco of the God Pehor Gelpo, in Gangtey
I remove my
A wall is covered with certificates, medals and security passes from international archery competitions - in venues from Thailand to Sri
Lanka - and there are polished trophies on a shelf
"It's not the winning, of course," Dorji says
"It's the participating.""Surely not," I reply sceptically
"You must have wanted to win."She shakes her head
Not a lack of ambition or passion, but congeniality, the sense of the collaborative
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Thursdays at 11:00Tournaments in Bhutan are often as much about fun as the frenzy of competing
They are accompanied by raucous singing, boo-ing, cheering, dancing and sometimes even heavy drinking by contestants
Archery is much more than just a sport
"Will you teach me" I ask Dorji
We'd planned a lesson.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Dorji Dema had morning sickness at the Beijing Olympics
She bounces off to get her Recurve, the model they use at the Olympics, which has a trigger to release the bow
She grabs a sheaf of arrows, and we head out to the garden
I hadn't noticed the strip of land, flanked by a muddy bank, which serves as her practice ground
She usually shoots from 50m, but we move much closer to the target for my sake.She talks me through the action
Pull your arm back completely
Keep the bowstring close to your cheek
I've always thought of myself as pretty strong, and I'm eager to try
But my left arm soon starts to shake with the strain
I struggle to pull back the string
In a last-ditch effort I roar as I might at the gym, trying to lift one last weight
The arrow flies towards the target."Six points," Dorji says, beaming.It was a fluke
I get steadily worse with each try until I can barely lift the bow, let alone take aim.Image copyrightMichelle Jana ChanDorji shoots 20
arrows, one after another
They cluster around the bulls eye so tightly they look like one entity.As the light fades, we head inside
We're cooking dinner together and I'm spending the night - Dorji now runs a homestay.Sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, we chop
radishes and spring onions
One of her three children runs past, calling out a cheerful hello
I notice the girl's age and glance up at the dates on the certificates on the wall.Dorji nods knowingly, and explains that it wasn't easy
In 2005, she was seven months pregnant when she competed in South Korea
Every time she took aim, the baby moved
She laughs.Image copyrightGetty ImagesAt the Beijing Olympics in 2008 she was three months pregnant and admits it was dreadful."I couldn't
I was throwing up all the time," she says."But although the baby makes you physically weaker, your mind is stronger
And the stronger your mind is, the less you shake."Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Traditional archery remains
a pursuit for Bhutanese men
I turn to Dorji's mother, who's been watching television in a corner."You must be proud of your
daughter""I'm proud of her because she's made lots of money," she guffaws
"She was the one who fixed the roof of this old house, not my son-in-law."Everyone laughs - Dorji's husband, too
He's obviously used to her tongue.Image copyrightAlamyImage caption
Women are mostly seen on the sidelines, as
cheerleaders
I ask Dorji if she'll try for another Olympics"I'd love to," she says
"I watch all the competitions on YouTube."Her more immediate goal, though, is to put together an all-female team for a tournament in Bhutan
Dorji says women are excluded from the traditional discipline, where the distance to the target is 145m
Instead they're mostly seen on the sidelines - as cheerleaders, and the ones who bring food to competitors and taunt the opposition
Dorji wants to change that."In the past, women weren't even allowed to touch a bow
It was considered bad luck," she says
"But now we should be equal." Image:The surfer 'not pretty enough to sponsor'Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
