Contents
HIGHLIGHTS
- 1Archer Atanu Das is eyeing a medal at 2016 Rio Olympics
- 2This is his maiden appearance at the Olympic Games
- 3He is the lone member of India’s archery outfit for Rio 2016
Rio de Janeiro: After a fine gritty performance in the qualifiers, Indian archer Atanu Das will be eyeing a medal when he begins his campaign in the elimination round of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday
Das showed fine composure and skill to bounce back from a poor start in his maiden Olympics to finish fifth in the qualification round. He will begin his elimination round against lowly 60th ranked Jitbahadur Muktan of Nepal.
Lying a lowly 10th after first 36 arrows, the 24-year-old Kolkata lad turned it around in style in the final set of 36 arrows by shooting 23 perfect 10s including 10 closest to the centre to finish fifth with 683 out of the possible 720.
Das is the lone male member in the Indian archery team and will compete only in the individual section as the men’s team had failed to qualify from the World Championship.
Leading the qualification round was two-time World champion Kim Woojin who shot 700, for a world record on the opening day of the XXXI Olympiad.
Das had troubled Woojin in the World Cup Stage 3 in Antalya earlier in June where he led the Korean heavyweight 4-0 before losing 5-6 for the individual bronze medal.
But his impressive finish meant that Das will avoid the top seed Woojin unless he reaches the summit-clash.
Das will get an easy draw till the quarter-finals and his probable semi-final opponent may be fourth-ranked Dutch man Sjef van den Berg who won the World Cup individual gold in Shanghai.
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