It was a neck and neck battle where the Indian squandered a 4-0 lead to succumb to a defeat by the closest of margins – at 10-10 in the ensuing shoot-off, the Korean’s arrow was nearer to the centre which awarded him the win.
The 24-year-old Kolkata-born archer was in sparkling form when he took on the second seed. 51 ranking places separate them yet Das refused to be intimidated. He quickly surged to a 4-0 advantage, riding on five 10s.
Woojin finally lifted his game and hit three consecutive 10s to take the next set and reduce the deficit to 2-4. The fourth set was a tie where both amassed 29 apiece and the set score was then 5-3 in Atanu’s favour.
Woojin, being the champion that he is, fired another three 10s to grab the fifth set 30-29 and even the set score 5-5.
Both were at par in the shoot-off after scoring 10 each but the Korean took the match 6-5 and the bronze medal by virtue of his arrow being more in the proximity of the centre.
India thus ends their campaign with a solitary medal – in the mixed recurve section. If this World Cup showed us that Deepika Kumari still needs a lot of sharpening of her skills before heading to Rio, it also gave up hope in the form of Atanu Das.
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