By Jigmet Dadul
LEH: ‘Luna Black’ team was declared winner while ‘fight to Win’ Thiksay was the runner up team of the First Bakula Rinpoche Archery Running Tournament 2014, organised by Yangtsey Yargais Tsogspa Leh on Sunday.
In all, 22 teams from all the regions of Leh participated in the tournament. The winner and runner up team were awarded with cash prize of Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000 respectively along with the trophy. The tournament was sponsored by Luna Travels and the Contractor Association Leh.
Chotak, the General Secretary of the Society said that the main objective of organising this tournament is to engage the youth in sports and to preserve and promote the rich culture and tradition of Ladakh.
The ex-President of the Society and the present Councillor from Upper Leh Gyan Lobzang Nyantak informed the people that Bakula Rinpoche had very keen interest in archery and used to encourage the young monks to play archery by giving rupees 10 or five from his own pocket to those who hit the target. He added that in previous time there used to celebrate archery once a year in every village of Ladakh. But he expressed displeasure that most of the village had abandoned the archery celebration now.
The Chief Guest, Tsewang Thinlas said that the youth must take responsible to preserve and promote the rich culture and tradition of Ladakh. He assured both financial and moral support from Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) to the Yangtsey Yargais Tosgspa.
Jigmat Dorjay from Luna black team was awarded with the highest individual scorer.
The President of LBA, Tsewang Thinlas was the Chief Guest on the occasion while President LBA Youth Wing Rinchen Namgail and Chokgee Lama were the Guests of Honour.