Tokyo Olympics: Atanu Das stuns 2012 champion Oh Jin Hyekin, enters pre-quarterfinals

Indian Archer Atanu Das piped South Korea’s Oh Jin Hyekin in a thrilling finish to march into the 1/8 Elimination round in the men’s individual archery event at the Yumenoshima Ranking Field on Thursday. The third-seed Korean took a two-point lead in the first round scoring 8-9-9 in reply to Das’s 8-8-9. However, Das came back strongly to tie the second set.

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The third set was also evenly fought with both archers sharing the points. Jin scored 8-10-9 while Atanu Das aimed 9-9-9. Atanu Das again hit back to take the fourth set 8-9-10. The Korean replied with 9-7-6 to take the match into the decider. The fifth set followed the same story as both archers shared the same number of points to take the game into shoot-off.

Aiming the first shot in the shoot off, Jinhyek shot a 9 to which Atanu replied with a brilliant 10 to seal the game. The win has taken Atanu to the 1/8 elimination round. Earlier in the day, Atanu defeated Chinese Taipei’s Yu-Cheng Dang 6-4 in the 1/32 Elimination round. Atanu Das’ wife Deepika Kumari has also qualified for the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s individual event.

Oh Jin-Hyek has already won a gold in the men’s team event. He won a gold in the men’s individual event at the 2012 London Olympics as well. The Korean started the match as favourite but was stunned by Das. Atanu Das will face 37 ranked Japan's Takaharu Furukawa in his pre-quarterfinal match.