Archery is the national sport of which country?

Archery (called "datse" in Dzongkha) was declared the national sport of Bhutan in 1971, the same year Bhutan became a member of the United Nations.

Archery in Bhutan:

• It is played at almost every festival and celebration, and almost every village has an archery ground.
• Traditional archery uses bamboo bows and arrows, and the targets are very small and placed about 140-145 metres apart, much farther than in Olympic archery (70 m).

Matches are social events with singing, dancing, teasing of the opposing team and traditional food and drink. Women (cheerleaders) sing songs to encourage their team and to distract the opponents.

Modern compound bows have also become popular.

Bhutan has sent archers to the Olympics regularly since its first appearance in 1984 (Los Angeles), when all its athletes were archers.

Another traditional Bhutanese sport is "khuru", a darts game played with large darts thrown at small targets.

National sports of other countries:

• Nepal: volleyball (declared in 2017).
• Mongolia: wrestling, archery and horse racing are celebrated together in the Naadam festival ("three manly games").
• South Korea: taekwondo.
• Japan: sumo wrestling.
• China: table tennis (unofficially).
• Bangladesh: kabaddi.
• Sri Lanka: volleyball.
• Pakistan: field hockey.
• Afghanistan: buzkashi.

India in archery:

India's archers include Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam. Indian archers won all five compound archery gold medals at the 2022 Asian Games, and Jyothi Surekha Vennam won three of them.

The Archery Association of India governs the sport.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Nepal's national sport is volleyball.
• ✗Mongolia celebrates wrestling, archery and horse racing at the Naadam festival.
• ✗South Korea's national sport is taekwondo.