Tongan archer proud to wear his traditional tupenu

TONGA – Teenage Tongan archer Hans Arne Jensen says he wanted to wear a traditional tupenu during his Olympic competition to show the world how proud he is to be from Tonga.

Games rules state that athletes are meant to shoot in shorts but the 18-year-old said he wanted to do something different to showcase his heritage and the judges agreed to the request.

“The last couple of days I was thinking of it and I tried it on and I shot fine in it with the wind. It was mainly just to show how proud we are to be Tongan, the team in general.

Tonga’s flagbearer in Rio, Pita Taufatofua, also wore a tupenu during the opening ceremony and caused a stir after the cameras zoomed in on his coconut-oiled body.

Arne Jensen said it was good to be able to bring the attention to Tonga.

“A lot of us perform a little bit better with the support that we get from Tonga and the fact that we put Tonga on the map a little bit with our opening brought a lot of support from, not just Tongans in Tonga, but Tongans all over the world. It gives us a bit more drive, a bit more motivation – I think it was a big plus.

“We did this just to show that we were proud to be Tongan and we wanted people to see Tonga for what it was – not just get all dressed up in a suit, the typical sort of thing, you know?”

Jensen said his role now is as the official team cheerleader for Tonga’s remaining four athletes still to compete in Rio. - RNZI