Asiad 2006: 17 days to go
Date: 14-11-2006
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamBhutan |
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14 November, 2006 -Twenty-one athletes will be representing Bhutan at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, which begins from December 1. The Doha games is billed as the largest Asian Games ever where the finest of Asia’s athletes from 45 countries and regions will compete for the top honours in 39 sports and 423 events. Bhutan will be participating in archery, tae kwon do, bodybuilding and tennis. Bhutan will be making its debut in body building and tennis.
Body Building
In a small room at the swimming pool complex in Thimphu, a dozen heavy-built (by Bhutanese standards) men pump and lift an assortment of weights heavier than themselves.
Most are sweating it out to magnify the physique and gain mass to look bulkier and heavier. But three men in the room - Bal Bahadur Tamang, Sonam Dhendup and Chador Wangdi - are racing against time to thin out. They have to lose between one to five kilogrammes by the end of this month to participate in specific categories of the ‘body building’ contest at the 15 Doha Asian Games.
It is ‘shedding the mass and getting the cuts’ for the trio, the first to flex Bhutanese muscles in the Asian Games.
“I am as much excited as I am nervous,” said Bal Bdr. Tamang. “The competition will be tough because we will be competing with professionals.” To be able to contest in the 70-kilogramme category, the 26-year old had about a kilogramme to shed. He was 80 kilogrammes when he initially started.
But partner Sonam Dhendup,27, had to lose another five kilogrammes to be able to contest in the 60-kg category. And Chador Wangdi would be contesting in the 65-kg category.
“Participation itself is good enough for now,” he told Kuensel.
The consistent and heavy training had the three of them eating seven meals a day, excluding protein supplements and about half a kilogramme of beef or fish.
“We will compete though the chances are slim,” said joint secretary of Bhutan Bodybuilding Federation and coach Karma Wangchuk. “We have been training for the past five months though it requires at least a year-long preparation. There is no budget as diet and use of supplements are expensive.”
“But we would like to convey the message to our youth that there is a scope in this art,” he added.
Tennis Deepesh Chettri, 30, and Kinley Wangchuk the national tennis champ and runners-up are said to be ‘peaking’ at the right time having just completed the National Open Tennis Championship successfully.
A national champion for over eight years, Deepesh Chhetri,30, said that competing in the Games would be tough.
“We don’t stand a good chance but we will give our best shot,” he said. But the prospect of getting a close sniff at the world class players like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupatti, Shania Mirza etc, was exciting nonetheless for the duo who had, among others, participated in the University Games so far.
“With such opportunities available, it will send a positive signal to the junior players to train and play harder,” says Deepesh Chettri.
Archery
Without a proper coach, the eight participating Bhutanese archers have been training with a senior archer Tashi Peljor.
“We can hope for a team result but not individual wins,” said secretary general of Bhutan Archery Federation Karma Yoezer.
The squad who managed two silver for the team during the SAF will have to compete against the powerhouses in the sport – Korea and China - at Doha.
“We will try to get results,” said Tashi Peljor. The team, four men and four women, have played abroad and won medals on numerous accounts, but they had not been able to win in the earlier two Asian Games they participated in.
Tae kwon do
“My boys and girls are ready, physically and mentally,” said national coach Dema Wangchuk.
But he also agrees that comparatively it was going be tough and that sometimes it also depended on luck.
Expectations are, nevertheless, high from the Bhutanese tae kwon do squad solely because they had, on most occasions, brought home medals.
And the eight athletes, six men and two women, were not new to participating abroad. Gold medallist of the 9th SAF Games in Pakistan, Sonam Penjor, 20, assures that he will come back with some medals, or at least his team will, definitely.
“We have been training hard,” he said.
Being into the sport for 12 years, Sonam Penjor had fought his way to quarterfinals at the 2002 Busan Asian Games in Korea. Teammate Sangay Wangmo lost bronze to a contestant from Chinese Taipei. She says, this time things would be different.
“We have been training hard in physical fitness and in fighting technique,” said another participant Kinley Rabgye, 20.
