Team India’s campaign at the Rio Olympics 2016 got off to a thunderous start as the only men’s archer Atanu Das shot an impressive 683 to finish in the fifth place of the men’s individual recurve ranking round at the Sambadrome on Friday.
Atanu, the World No. 22, who hails from the state of West Bengal, showed tremendous determination and consistency in the final four rounds to climb up from the 24th spot to eventually finish in the top 5 after 12 rounds. His tally of 59 (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9), 58 (X, X, 10, 10, 9, 9), 59 (X, X, X, X, 10, 9) and 58 (X, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9) were instrumental in giving him the high ranking.
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The difference in the two halves proves how much he made up for a slow start. In the first half, he ended with 337 while in the second half, he improved it to make it 346.
He will now take on the Nepalese archer Jitbahadur Muktan in the Round of 64 of the knockout stage.
Atanu has been India's most consistent archer this season and grabbed medals at both the Shanghai and the Antalya World Cups. His excellent performances helped him win the selection trial and make it to Rio through the only quota that Mangal Singh Champia had clinched for India at the World Championships last year.
This is the 24-year-old's Olympic debut.
Woojin steals the show
But it was the World No. 1 South Korean Kim Woojin, who stole the show on Day 1 of the archery competition. With an incredible total score of 700, he clinched the top spot in the ranking round. The 700-point 70-metre that the numero uno archer shot out of a possible 720, put him in the record books. It is the first time ever that any recurve archer has managed to total 700 or more in the history of the sport. It goes without saying that it is the first world record of the 2016 Rio Games.
Woojin's fantastic show helped to break the record of his own countryman, Im Dong Hyun who scored 699 in 2012 Olympics.
Later in the day, the women’s ranking round will be held where the Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi will be in action. You can follow the Women’s Ranking Round live here.
