Atanu Das showed fine composure and skill to bounce back from a poor start in his maiden Olympics to finish fifth in the qualification round as archery got underway at Brazil’s historic Samba street in Rio.
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 Woo-jin who shot 700, for a world record on the opening day of the XXXI Olympiad. Das had troubled Woo-jin 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, who will begin his elimination round against lowly 60th ranked Jitbahadur Muktan of Nepal, will avoid the top-seed Woo-jin unless he reaches the summit-clash.
Das will get an easy draw till the quarterfinals and his probable semi-final opponent may be the 4th ranked Dutch man Sjef van den Berg who won the World Cup individual gold in Shanghai. Das’s promising finish also meant he was ahead of London 2012 silver medalist Takaharu Furukuwa, who finished 7th.
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