Misfire: A contestant picks up a dart that had missed its target and hit the backdrop instead.

Four men in traditional ethnic Dayak clothing concentrated on targets that were 30 meters from where they were standing. Behind them, judges were ready to record their scores.

Then, strong gusts from their sumpit '€” or blowguns '€” discharged darts that hit the targets. The men were participating in a blowgun competition, part of the Equatorial Cultural Festival (FBBK) held in the yard of the West Kalimantan State Museum in Pontianak last month.

The biennial event, held by the West Kalimantan Tourism Office, offered various cultural shows besides the sumpit contest.

The sumpit '€” typical weapon of the Dayak people '€” was formerly used for hunting and for war. Now, it is promoted as a traditional sport.

The organizing committee devised squatting, standing, and bull'€™s-eye targeting competitions for men, women and groups. For example, squatting shooters had to hit their targets from a distance of 30 meters for men and 20 meters for women.

Taking aim: Sumpit shooters prepare to fire their blowguns.

 '€œA target has 10 concentric circles of different colors. The innermost circle is valued at 100 and the outermost at 10. The more accurate their shots are, the higher scores they earn,'€ Bambang Widya Budi, one of the judges, said.

 '€œFor bull'€™s-eye shooters, they aim at the central red dots on their target boards. Their scores are calculated from the number of darts accurately shot,'€ Bambang, who was also a judge in last year'€™s International Borneo Sumpit Tournament, said.

Bambang added that each competitor had been allotted three minutes to blow ten darts, called damak, before they were allowed to examine the results on the board along with the judge in charge.

Projectiles: A woman shows off four damak blowgun darts

One contestant, Leo Dedy A, described the squatting competition as relatively difficult, as equal concentration had to be given to shooting accurately, blowing power and foot stance. The 33-year-old said he supported his bottom with his right heel and took his stance with his left foot.

Then he pointed his blowgun that was already filled with a dart at the sky, putting its base in his mouth and slowly lowering the tube to take aim. With an additional breath from the abdomen, he blew the dart from the base with a jolt, causing the arrow to zip through the air like a bullet.

Scoring: After shooting, participants are accompanied by judges to count the number of darts that hit their target.

'€œConcentration is needed to aim at a target,'€ said Leo, who is deputy chairman of the local Sumpit Sport Association. '€œThe wind can divert a dart from its target, so shooters should be aware of the wind'€™s direction, through, among other things, observing the movement of leaves.'€

Leo said that his blowgun was carved from a piece of hard wood that was almost three meters-long and weighed around four kilograms. With stainless steel and rattan coatings at its base and tip, the blowgun costs Rp 3.5 million (US$309).

Its weight requires extra energy. When the weapon is used, both hands can only hold its base '€” which is is why sumpit shooters often experience pain in their wrists. There is also the problem of sore cheeks due to their constant forceful blowing.

According to Leo, there are similar sport organizations abroad, such as the American Metis Blowgun Association (AMBA). The general chairman of the West Kalimantan Sumpit Sport Association, Anna Yos Andjioe, 63, said her organization was set up in 2006.

 '€œSumpit sport lovers are increasing in number. I'€™ve noticed that female participants are no less enthusiastic than their male counterparts,'€ Anna, who in her youth was an athlete specializing in throwing the javelin, the discus and the shot-put, said.

As a member of the Indonesian Athletic Masters Association (PAAMI), Anna said that she had always told officials of the Youth and Sports Ministry of the rising popularity of this traditional sport at various regional sporting event. '€œWe want the central government to take note of this regional potential.'€

There are standards for blowguns, which are generally 2.2-meters-long for men and 1.8-meters-long for women. The tube hole is around 1.2 to 2.5 millimeters, into which a dart 7 to 10 centimeters long is fed.

While darts used to be made from palm-leaf rib; today, fiberglass or iron darts with cork-tail counterweights are popular. Darts are kept in bamboo or bark canisters covered with lids called tempulung. Blowguns are now produced by wooden furniture-making machines.

Paul Vitalisius, 36, a member of Pontianak'€™s Ipuh Damak or sumpit athletes association, said that blowguns were made by splitting wood and grooving both parts before joining them with glue and shaping the outside into tapering sticks coated with iron, stainless steel or other materials at the base and tip.

'€œIn the past, the weapon was also used to stab an animal with the tip when the target was found still alive,'€ Paul said. That was when sumpit were used as long-distance weapons and utilized darts that were coated with a poison derived from local trees known as ipuh, whose sap is deadly.

'€œWhile carrying tempulung with darts, a hunter had a small container made from a gourd with ipuh poison in it,'€ said Paul, adding that in the past, however, blowguns were bamboo, not wood, tubes up to one meter long '€” shorter and smaller than present-day sumpit.

'€” Photos by JP/Severianus Endi