Das makes an entrance, powers team to 4th place
Antalya, April 19
Making a comeback after almost two years, two-time Olympian Atanu Das qualified as the fourth seed and powered India to the fourth place in the recurve team standings in Stage 1 of the Archery World Cup here today.
Das, who was sidelined after the Tokyo Olympics and made his last international appearance in the Yankton World Cup Final in September 2021, shot 673 points to finish behind local sensation Mete Gazoz, US veteran Brady Ellison and Li Zhongyuan who bagged the top three places, respectively.
B Dhiraj (665 points) was the next best Indian in the 15th place, while his veteran Army colleague Tarundeep Rai (662) completed the three-member line-up, taking the 23rd place on the leaderboard.
The fourth place standings earned them a direct place in the pre-quarterfinals where they will
face the first-round winners between Japan
(seeded 13th) and Switzerland (20th).
India however have a tricky road ahead as they are placed in the same
half as the USA (fifth seed) and hosts Turkey, who are the top seed.
The inexperienced women recurve archers had a forgettable outing in the qualification round as all of them finished outside top-30.
At 32nd place, 17-year-old debutant Bhajan Kaur was the best among the Indians with a score of 648, which was way below Mexican top seed Alejandra Valencia’s 677.
Simranjeet Kaur (41st) and Ankita Bhakat (46th) were the next best Indians with scores of 648 and 644, respectively, as India bagged the 11th place in team standings.
The women’s recurve team will begin its campaign against the 22nd-seeded Brazil in the Round of 32.
Aditi Jaiswal failed to make the team event after finishing a forgettable 56th with a score of 637. She will only compete in the individual section.
