Rio 2016: Das shines on opening day of archery competition

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 5 (IANS) Atanu Das gave India's Olympic campaign a rousing start with a spirited performance in the ranking round of the men's individual archery event at the Sambodromo here on Friday.

Das scored a total of 683 points to enter the Round of 32 in a creditable fifth place.

Das, who made it to the Olympics after edging out experienced archers Jayanta Talukdar and Mangal Singh Champia in the national trials, enjoyed a superb start and was at the third position in the early stages with 58 points.

He sufferred a setback in the next round, however, and slipped to the 24th position with an overall score of 111.

But the Bengal archer took the setback in his stride and started to climb up the ladder with a string of steady performances. He produced a brilliant performance in the sixth round where he scored 57 points out of 60 to rise to the 15th place with a total tally of 337.

The 24-year-old continued to produce a string of consistent performances with another 57 in the next round and two brilliant rounds of 59 points enabling him to take the seventh position with 625 points overall.

He then signed off with a 58 in the final round of the day to finish in the 5th position.