He was not very impressive since the Tokyo Olympics began. But archer Atanu Das turned it around brilliantly on Thursday as he knocked out two-time Olympic champion Oh Jin-Hyek to join wife Deepika Kumari in the individual pre-quarter finals.

Das, who had lost his place to Pravin Jadhav in the mixed team event after slipping to 35th place in the ranking round, was confidence personified as he edged out the legendary Korean in a one-arrow shootoff.

Oh, an individual Olympic champion from 2012 London Games and a team gold medallist in Tokyo, started the shootoff with a nine as Das delivered a perfect 10, hitting the bullseye to seal the issue 6-5 (10-9).

Earlier in the day, Das defeated Taiwan’s Deng Yu-Cheng 6-4 from being locked 4-4. He will next face home favourite Takaharu Furukawa, an individual silver medallist at the London Olympics and a team bronze winner in Tokyo, in the last 16 on Saturday.

The Indian showed amazing resilience as he bounced back from being 2-4 down.

“Yahan pe dimaag chala raha tha, dil nahin. Obviously there was a lot of pressure but I just tried to maintain my focus and didn’t listen to my heart,” Das said after the win.

“Atanu’s performance was by far the best we’ve seen from him in Tokyo,” Rahul Banerjee, Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, told The Telegraph. “His mindset, confidence and style — everything was a notch above from the last few days.

“Korean opponent, tough match, tie-breaker — he overcame it all.

“Most importantly, in archery, you have to shoot 10 when you need to shoot 10. Atanu did that today.”

Wife’s support

Deepika was seen shouting from the gallery to cheer her husband.

“I was listening to her full time. She was pushing me: ‘Believe in yourself’, ‘you can do it’, ‘just stay calm and handle the situation’,” Das said in the mixed zone after his win.

“She is world No. 1 and I’m privileged to have my wife in this competition. It was a great support and motivation for me.”

Should Deepika win her pre-quarters on Friday, it will give Atanu that bit of extra motivation on Saturday.

Das’s next opponent Furukawa is quite a veteran in the field. “In fact. Furukawa, Atanu and I had shared the same podium in 2013, at the Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok,” said Banerjee who, however, feels the Japanese is not in his best form now.

“But then, it takes just one match for a turnaround — as we have seen with Atanu.

“The wind factor will also play a role, for, as we have seen, it is very windy in Tokyo. It will make a big difference for the one who can judge the wind correctly.

“A good fight is on the cards on Saturday, but if Atanu can remain consistent, I can vouch for a medal,” said Banerjee.

Written with inputs from PTI