Indian archer Atanu Das hit the bull's eye in a one-arrow shoot-off to knock two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek out of the Tokyo Olympics and storm into the pre-quarter finals on Thursday. It was the greatest win in the career of 29-year-old, who was snubbed by the team thinktank and lost his place to rookie Pravin Jadhav in the mixed team on day one of the competition.
Returning to action after the humiliation, Das showed amazing resilience as he bounced back from being 2-4 to edge out the Korean great by shooting a perfect 10 in the one-arrow shootoff.
Jin-Hyek 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 and his world number one wife Deepika Kumari are the two Indians left in the fray. Deepika has also made the round of 16.
Das saw off a tough challenge from Chinese Taipei's Deng Yu-Cheng earlier in the day. Both the players won two sets each following some intense shooting to be tied 4-4 and in the decider too they were going neck-and-neck till 19-all.
But the archer from Chinese Taipei crumbled under pressure, misfiring a 7 as Das, who had slipped behind rookie Jadhav in the ranking round on Friday, held his nerve to seal a 6-4 win after drilling in a 9 in the yellow-ring.
(With PTI inputs)
