Sportskeeda's Indian Sportsperson of the Year 2016 – No. 25 to No. 16

#24 Atanu Das

Das bowed out in the pre-quarters in Rio 2016

Much was expected from the Indian archers at the Rio Olympics. Alas, the archers were unable to perform as expected. However, one archer, Atanu Das, stood out in the crowd with a good showing. Not much had been touted about this 24-year-old archer before the Olympics and no one expected him to go as far as he did.

After finishing a respectable fifth in the ranking rounds, he put in a good performance in the pre-quarterfinals against World No. 8 Lee Seungyun of Korea. He hit six 10s and eight 9s but was denied from progressing further by a spotless performance by his opponent.

Later in the year, he took part in the Indoor Archery World Cup and was the best performing Indian at the event. He carried on from his good showing at the Olympics to finish fourth in men’s recurve. Atanu qualified for the knock-out stages with a superb 593 out of a maximum 600 and reached the semi-finals.

But his brilliant run was cut short by eventual gold medallist Kim Jae Hyeung and he also missed out on the bronze medal narrowly. His performance throughout the year sees him being placed at 24^th on our list.