1 rises to dayan mergen and 4 earn state titles at Naadam Archery Tournament

Out of 540 competing archers, Ulsyn Mergen D.Demberelsaikhan triumphed at this year’s Naadam Archery Tournament, or Khalkh Kharvaa, while four claimed state titles.

This year’s tournament attracted 396 male and 144 female archers who wanted to test their precision and rise in ranks. There are three major types of archery in Mongolia (Khalkh, Buryat and Uriankhai) and Khalkh Kharvaa’s shooting distance is the farthest. It usually takes place for two days during the Naadam festival and winners are awarded state archery titles. During the women’s archery tournament, archers shot 20 arrows at targets 60 meters away from them, while men shoot 40 arrows 75 meters.

The target is a small leather cylinder laid on the ground in rows of two and three. There are two red cylinders marking the center of the target, but hitting the red target does not score extra points. Each target is counted as one point.

Ulsyn Mergen D.Demberelsaikhan won the 2020 Khalkh Kharvaa by scoring 38 out of 40 points. The archer from Erdenekhairkhan soum of Zavkhan Province became eligible for the ulsyn dayan mergen title.

Second place went to Sports Master and Aimgiin Mergen D.Battulga, who scored 36 points. He earned the ulsyn garamgai mergen title. Sports Master and Aimgiin Mergen P.Yavuukhulan lost second place by a narrow margin. Though he also scored 36 points, he landed third place, claiming the gots mergen title.

In the women’s event, Sports Master and Aimgiin Mergen L.Odsaikhan from Bayandelger soum in Sukhbaatar Province scored 34 points, winning first place and ulsyn mergen title. Ulsyn Dayan Mergen D.Erdenetuya from Tudev soum of Zavkhan Province came in second, while Ulsyn Garamgai Ch.Gandavaa from Khulunbuir soum of Dornod Province Ch.Gandavaa came in third.

Buryat Archery Tournament

Buryat archery is practiced by the Buryats, one of the ethnic minorities in Mongolia. In Buryat archery, both men and women compete and shoot at cylindrical targets made of weaved camel hide from a distance of 30 meters (women) and 45 meters (men) and shot a total of 64 arrows. The Buryat arrows are 140 to 150 centimeters long. One of the features of this event is the attires of archers who don their Buriat traditional clothes.

This year, Sports Master Kh.Baasandorj from Uvurkhangai Province hit 60 targets out of 64 and seized the ulsyn mergen title. In the women’s event, Ulsyn Mergen from Uvurkhangai B.Punsaldulam came in first place by scoring 59 points. She earned her ulsyn mergen title in 2016 when she won the Naadam Archery Tournament. This year, she’s earned the ulsyn mergen title of Buryat archery.

Uriankhai Archery Tournament

Uriankhai is another ethnic group that live in the western part of

Mongolia. Only men are allowed to participate in Uriankhai archery. They shoot 30 arrows at the target – balls weaved from camel hide – from a distance of 40 meters. The winning archer not only hits the most targets but his shots roll over the ball-shaped targets to a small mound of soil erected behind the piled target of leather balls. Uriankhai arrows are 90 to 100 centimeters long and weigh less than 60 grams.

This year, Sports Master E.Khosbayar from Khovd Province triumped at the Uriankhai Archery Tournament, scoring 21 points and winning ulsyn mergen title of the Uriankhai archery. Runner up was ulsyn mergen B.Khatansaikhan, a member of Monde Archery Team, who was born in Tes soum of Zavkhan Province.

Mergen of Uriankhai Archery J.Myagmar from Buyan soum of Bayan-Ulgii Province came in third place and two-time winner and Ulsyn Mergen Ts.Batzorig from Munkhkhairkhan soum of Khovd Province came in fourth place.

The Uriankhai archery was the main attraction of ancient Mongol soldiers along with their skillful horse riding. Legends about the archers were widely circulated in hearsays as well as historic documents. The most famous one is the stone inscription dating back to 1226 where Chinggis Khaan’s nephew Yesukhei struck the target in 575 yards or about 536 meters. 19th century Mongolian writer, Injinash, writes a story of Chuu Mergen, who hit a target from horseback at about 130 meters and many others shooting at a cap of deer leather placed on the ground up to 600 meters. All of them hit the target with just one to three shots.

Ankle Bone Shooting Competition

One of the most fascinating Mongolian national sports is ankle bone shooting, which was officially added to the Naadam games in 1998. This game, registered on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014, involves shooting animal ankle bones to a tiny target 4.7 meters away.

In this event, the Khentii team led by Ulsyn Mergen B.Amgalanbayar gained victory, followed by Bold Tumur Yuruu

Gol Team from Dornogovi Province, led by Ulsyn Ulemj Darkhan

Mergen Sh.Otgonbayar.

Third place went to

Ulaanbaatar Railway

Team led by Ulsyn

Ulemj Darkhan

Mergen L.Bold.