Mahindra Scorpio TOISA: Atanu Das wins Archer of the Year Award

MUMBAI: Atanu Das was on Monday adjudged TOISA Archer of the Year at the 2017 Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Awards in Mumbai, edging out his Rio Olympics compatriots Deepika Kumari and Abhishek Verma.
At last year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Das, 24, made it to the pre-quarters of the men's individual event on the back of some stunning performances. He had a close game against Seungyun Lee but the Korean archer prevailed 6-4.
In December, at the Indoor Archery World Cup in Bangkok, Das scored 593 out of a possible 600 points at the second stage. His current world ranking is 14.
On Das' selection, former India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, part of the five-member jury that selected the best of Indian sport in 2016, said: "What Atanu achieved in Rio was very, very good and I remember following his bouts with excitement. He did not win a medal, but to reach the pre-quarters of the Olympics and lose by a small margin was extremely commendable."
Deepika was part of the Indian women's recurve team that finished seventh in the ranking round at the Rio Olympics. They won their match against Colombia in the round of 16 before losing the quarterfinal match against Russia. In the women's individual archery recurve event in Rio, Deepika produced a stellar performance in the round of 64 against Kristine Esebua of Lithuania and then bowed out in the round of 16 with a score of 0 against 6.
The other TOISA nominee was Verma, who went up against the top seed Stephan Hansen in the third round and put up a strong challenge before bowing out with a heartbreaking 147-148 loss.