The first Indian to take centre stage at the Rio Olympics was archer Atanu Das and he provided a cracking start by finishing fifth in the ranking round of the individual archery event on Friday. This is a great achievement for the 24-year-old considering he is ranked 22nd in the world. The Bengal lad finished with a score of 683 out of a possible 720 in 12 rounds. He will take on Nepalese Jitbahadur Muktan on Monday in the round of 32, who scored 607 and finished 60th in the ranking round.

Das got off to a strong start by shooting two bullseyes, two 10s and two 9s in the first round, seeing him score 58 out of 60 and gaining a place in the top three immediately. However, in the second round, he hit five 9s and a single 8, making it 53 out of 60, which pushed him back to the 24th position. There were 64 archers in the fray out of which 32 will go into the next round, which will take place on August 8.

Das made a strong comeback in round three by hitting a bullseye, two 10s and three 9s to take his score to 168 and to the 19th position. In round four, he went up to 13th by shooting a 57, which gave put him in a good position to enter the round of 32. But in the next round he faltered yet again by scoring 54 and fell four positions. However, the Kolkata resident climbed up two spots with a score of 57 in the sixth round, taking his score to 337 at the halfway mark. He was 11 points behind table topper Kim Woo-jin from South Korea.

Das shot another 55 (two bullseyes, two 9s and an 8), in the seventh round, to move to 14th and stay among the top 32. In the eighth, he hit 57 with one bullseye, two 10s and three 9s. In the next round he broke into the top 10 by earning 59 points, after hitting five 10s and a 9, and taking is total to 508 out of 540. Das scored a brilliant 58 in the 10th round, but dropped to 11th with two rounds to go.

In the last two rounds the Bengal boy was on fire with four bullseye’s, five 10s and three 9s finishing fifth in the qualification and entering the round of 32 in style with 683 points. It was important for Das to finish close to the top 10 to ensure easy matchups ahead. Table topper Woojin set the world and Olympic record with a total score of 700.