India’s Atanu Das stunned two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek in 1/16 Elimination Round of the men’s individual archery event. Das and Jin Hyek’s match went into a shoot-off where the Indian archer hit the bull’s eye to stun the Korean and enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics. The performance was noteworthy not only for the upset of Jin Hyek but also for Das’ comeback in the tournament.
The experienced archer had lost his place to rookie Pravin Jadhav in the mixed team on day one of the competition. But he showed on Thursday why he is India’s number one ranked archer.
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Watch how Atanu Das knocked out two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek:-
Returning to action after the humiliation, Das showed amazing resilience as he bounced back from being 2-4 down to edge out the Korean great by shooting a perfect 10 in the one-arrow shootoff.
Oh had won the individual gold medal in London 2012 and was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the ongoing Tokyo Games. He was also part of the bronze-wining team at 2012 Olympics.
Das commented on his win after the match.
“It was a tense moment. I’ve faced shoot-offs before. I knew he was shooting first, and if he would shoot a nine, I could win it,” World Archery quoted Atanu as a saying. “I just tried to maintain my focus. It was a tense moment, a win or lose situation. So I just went for the win.”
“We’re giving out best, so let’s see what happens,” he added.
Das and his world number one wife Deepika Kumari are the two Indians left in the fray. Deepika has also made the round of 16.
There will be another tough challenge in the last-16 for Das, who will face home favourite Takaharu Furukawa, an individual silver medalist at London 2012 Olympics and a team bronze winner here.
(with PTI inputs)
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