Tandin Dorji’s Asian Games Campaign Ends One Point Short of the Quarterfinal
By Victor Gurung
Press Attaché | Team Bhutan
20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026
OKAZAKI, Japan | 27 SEPTEMBER 2026
Tandin Dorji’s individual compound archery campaign at the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 came to an end on Monday morning after a closely fought second-round contest against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chieh-Lun, with the Bhutanese archer losing 145-144 in a match that remained undecided until the final arrow.
Tandin had entered the elimination rounds following an outstanding qualification performance in which he finished fourth with 710 points, a career-best score that placed him among the leading archers in the competition. His opening individual match against Lebanon’s Mattar Wadih then gave him a strong start to the elimination phase, as he produced 29, 29, 30, 30 and 29 for a total of 147, while Wadih finished on 135. The result sent Tandin through to the next round, where a place in the quarterfinals was at stake against Chen.
The contest against Chen was close from the beginning and demanded the kind of concentration that is required when there is very little separating two archers. Chen opened with 30 in the first set while Tandin recorded 28, but Tandin responded in the second set with 29, matching Chen’s 29. He then took the third set 30-29 and followed it with another 29-28 advantage in the fourth, keeping himself firmly in the contest and putting pressure on his opponent heading into the final three arrows.
By the time they reached the fifth set, there was little room for error. The first two arrows from both archers kept the contest level, leaving the final arrows to decide who would move into the quarterfinal. Chen placed a 29 on the target with his final shot, and Tandin responded with a 28. Chen therefore finished on 145 while Tandin ended on 144, with a single point separating the two archers at the end of a match that could have gone either way.
For Bhutan, it was a difficult result to take because Tandin had done enough throughout the contest to keep the quarterfinal within reach. He recovered well after the opening set, stayed close to Chen through the middle of the match and took a narrow advantage into the final stage. In the end, it was the final arrow that decided the outcome, bringing an otherwise impressive individual campaign to a close.
Earlier in the morning, Tshetum Gaytshey also competed in the individual elimination rounds, facing Korea’s Kim Jongho. Tshetum finished the five sets with scores of 28, 28, 28, 30 and 29 for a total of 143, while Kim recorded 148 to advance. Tshetum had qualified 35th with 693 points, earning his place among the individual elimination field after a solid qualification round.
Tandin’s performance, however, has been one of the highlights of Bhutan’s compound archery campaign at these Asian Games. His fourth-place qualification with 710 points was a significant result in a highly competitive field, with 21 archers breaking the 700-point mark. He followed that with a 147-point performance against Wadih before narrowly missing out on a place in the quarterfinal by a single point against Chen.
His campaign also included the men’s team event, where Tandin joined Tshetum Gaytshey and Kezang Norbu as Bhutan reached the quarterfinals. The team eventually lost 235-232 to India after another closely contested match, while Tandin and Dorji Dolma also represented Bhutan in the Compound Mixed Team event.
Among the 31 archers from across Asia in the individual competition, Tandin is listed 16th and Tshetum 24th. Those positions, combined with Tandin’s fourth-place qualification and his performances through the elimination rounds, underline the progress Bhutan’s compound archers are making at the continental level.
The individual result against Chen will naturally leave some disappointment, particularly because the quarterfinal was only one arrow away. But Tandin’s performance across the tournament has given Bhutan plenty to take forward. He has competed deep into the elimination rounds, challenged experienced archers from some of Asia’s strongest programs and shown that Bhutan can remain in the contest when the margins become extremely small.
With the men’s individual, men’s team and mixed team competitions now complete, Bhutan’s compound archery campaign at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 comes to an end. The results have provided another important step for the athletes and for the country’s developing compound archery program, with Tandin’s performance in particular standing out as one of the strongest individual showings by a Bhutanese archer at these Games.
The scoreboard against Chen will record 145-144, but behind that single point is a performance that showed how close Tandin has come to competing further into the Asian Games elimination rounds. On this occasion, the final arrow went the other way. The experience, however, will remain part of the progress he and Bhutanese archery continue to make.
Bhutan has moved further forward, finishing seventh among the Asian Games field. The official team ranking lists Bhutan seventh, ahead of Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates.
The progress of these three archers is also part of Bhutan’s wider effort to strengthen its high-performance sports pathway. Tandin Dorji, Tshetum Gaytshey and Kezang Norbu are athletes under the BEAST program, an initiative of the Bhutan Olympic Committee focused on developing athletes and creating a stronger pathway towards international competition.
Their performance in Okazaki offered a glimpse of that development on one of the biggest stages in Asian sport. The three archers handled a closely fought elimination match against Malaysia, then stepped into a quarterfinal against one of the strongest compound archery teams in the region and stayed in contention until the final end.
The atmosphere around the field reflected the closeness of the contest. Each end brought another shift in pressure, with coaches and teammates watching every arrow closely and the archers taking their time before committing to each shot. Bhutan’s final 59 ensured there was no easy passage for India, even after the Indian team had built an advantage earlier in the match. India eventually finished on 235 and Bhutan on 232.
For Bhutan, the quarterfinal result adds another significant marker to the development of its compound archery team. The team has improved its Asian Games position from 13th to 10th and now to seventh, while its latest campaign has also produced a fourth-place individual qualification finish and a quarterfinal contest decided by just three points. At Aichi-Nagoya, the numbers are beginning to show the progress.
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