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Archer Atanu Das Sends South Korean Legend Packing After Shoot Off in Tokyo

Continuing with the good run of results on Thursday morning at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for India was Atanu Das when he defeated South Korea’s Jinhyek Oh in a shoot-off to progress to the round of 16 of the men’s individual event. Atanu won the contest 6-5.

The South Korean, who has two Olympic golds and four World Championship golds, is the gold medallist from the 2012 London Olympic Games. He faces the London 2012 silver medallist and local favourite Takaharu Furukawa next.

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Das shot a 10 in the single arrow shoot-out after Jinhyek could manage only nine in an attempt to seal a memorable victory in a second-round match.

Pravin Jadhav had replaced Das to partner Deepika Kumari in the mixed team as he had not done well in the ranking round on July 23, finishing second behind Jadhav.

But the 29-year-old from Baranagar, West Bengal came up with a brilliant performance on Thursday, one of his best performances ever, as he shot superbly that too under pressure to tie the Korean 5-5 on set points after five rounds at the Yumenoshima Final Field.

Earlier, Das had reached the second round after beating Deng Yu-Cheng of Chinese Taipei 6-4 in five sets.

Against Jinhyek, Das came back strongly in the second set after Jinhyek had won the first 26-25. Both archers had started tentatively but the Korean shot 8, 9, and 9 in three arrows while Das could manage only 8, 8, and 9.

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However, Das did well in the second set to draw level at 27-27, hitting a nine after the Korean had managed an eight that undid the 10 he shot on the second attempt. Both archers had a nine on their first arrow in the second set.

Trailing 3-1, Das shot three 9s in the third set, missing a chance of winning the set as he had a chance of winning it by scoring a 10 on his third arrow but could manage only nine as the two again tied at 27-27.

The Korean archer imploded in the fourth set as he shot a seven and followed it by a stunning six. Das shot eight, nine, and 10 to win the set 27-22, the archers tied 4-4 with the final round to go.

In the final set, the Indian archer had a chance to win the match with a 10 on the final arrow but could manage only a nine, the arrow just touching the border of the line.

Jinhyek, whose game had deteriorated as the match progressed, shot 10,9 and 9 in this set and Das matched him shot for shot as they tied at 28-28. With both getting a point each from this set, the score was tied 5-5, taking the match into a one-arrow shootout.

In the shootout, Jinhyek managed only a nine and Das clinched victory by hitting 10 on his final arrow to seal the victory.

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Earlier, Atanu Das defeated Chinese Taipei's Olympics men's team silver medallist Deng Yu-Cheng by 6-4 in the 1/32 elimination of men's individual archery at Tokyo Olympics.

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