It was a disappointing morning for India as the dreams of an Olympic medal in archery were shattered with Atanu Das losing 4-6 to Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa, a silver winner in the 2012 edition, in a five-set men’s individual pre-quarterfinal clash in Tokyo on Saturday.
For Das, the last Indian archer standing at the Yumenoshima Park, it was the second successive last-16 exit from the Games. At the Rio Games five years ago, he had lost by an identical margin to former Korean world champion Lee Seungyun.
It appeared that Das had played his best hand in knocking out London Olympics gold medallist Korea’s Oh Jin Hyek in the last-32 clash on Thursday, as the Kolkata archer put up a rather ordinary show on Saturday.
He seemed to be looking for a divine intervention as he looked up toward the sky after hitting a nine with his last arrow in the deciding fifth set. However, that was not coming as Furukawa hit a nine to win the set 27-26 and seal the match too.
The 29-year-old lost the first set 25-27 hitting two 8s. He recovered in the second to put up a score of 28 but his rival matched it arrow by arrow to tie the set.
Das shot his best in the third finding two10s to win 28-27 and level the scores at 3-3, But another tied set where both the archers shot an identical 9-10-9 took the game to the deciding fifth set.
“I struggled a bit today, but I tried my best,” Das said after the loss. Looking back on yet another failed Olympic campaign, the Arjuna award winner felt “perhaps we take the Olympics a bit too seriously and forget to enjoy the shooting.”
Das later apologized for his show by tweeting “Sorry INDIA, I couldn’t bring glory in this Olympics.”. He accepted that the archers got all the help in the run-up to the Games, but yet questioned the federation’s decision.
“Immediately after the Olympics, you are called for a selection trial. How is it that in between a tournament you are told that you have to appear for selection trials? Nobody listens to us, the orders come only from above,” he said. The archers will directly report at Sonepat on return where they will take part in the selection trials for the World championship on August 4-5.
For Das, the last Indian archer standing at the Yumenoshima Park, it was the second successive last-16 exit from the Games. At the Rio Games five years ago, he had lost by an identical margin to former Korean world champion Lee Seungyun.
It appeared that Das had played his best hand in knocking out London Olympics gold medallist Korea’s Oh Jin Hyek in the last-32 clash on Thursday, as the Kolkata archer put up a rather ordinary show on Saturday.
He seemed to be looking for a divine intervention as he looked up toward the sky after hitting a nine with his last arrow in the deciding fifth set. However, that was not coming as Furukawa hit a nine to win the set 27-26 and seal the match too.
The 29-year-old lost the first set 25-27 hitting two 8s. He recovered in the second to put up a score of 28 but his rival matched it arrow by arrow to tie the set.
Das shot his best in the third finding two10s to win 28-27 and level the scores at 3-3, But another tied set where both the archers shot an identical 9-10-9 took the game to the deciding fifth set.
“I struggled a bit today, but I tried my best,” Das said after the loss. Looking back on yet another failed Olympic campaign, the Arjuna award winner felt “perhaps we take the Olympics a bit too seriously and forget to enjoy the shooting.”
Das later apologized for his show by tweeting “Sorry INDIA, I couldn’t bring glory in this Olympics.”. He accepted that the archers got all the help in the run-up to the Games, but yet questioned the federation’s decision.
“Immediately after the Olympics, you are called for a selection trial. How is it that in between a tournament you are told that you have to appear for selection trials? Nobody listens to us, the orders come only from above,” he said. The archers will directly report at Sonepat on return where they will take part in the selection trials for the World championship on August 4-5.
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