Atanu Das: The archer who is living his father's dreams
It was ace Indian archer Atanu Das' father's dream to see him compete at the Olympics.
Atanu Das would not have been the archer that he is today, if he didn't follow his father's dreams. His father, Amit Das, was the lone bread-earner of his family but wanted his son to be an Olympian.
It is thus that his father, one day, took him to one of the oldest clubs -- Kolkata Archery club -- in the northern outskirts of Kolkata and introduced him to the 'unpopular' sport. However, Das, coming from a humble background had to face many challenges initially but his father always stood by his side.
His father also bought him the first bow which was worth INR 30,000 and later the then 15-year-old Atanu took his first steps in archery.
"I thought it is an unpopular sport and maybe I can iron out something," Atanu told Olympics.com.
And as Atanu continued to visit the club regularly for practice, it caught the attention of some of his neighbours, who often mock him by comparing him to some of the mythological characters like Arjuna and Karna from the epic of Mahabharata.
"I didn't take it seriously as I knew my performance would give the answer," Das said.
The young Atanu remained unperturbed by such comparisons and focused on fulfilling his father's dreams. His path to success, however, was not easy as he was rejected in 30 seconds from a selection trial at the TATA Steel Feeder Centre in 2007 as the authorities deemed him unfit to be a part of the premier academy.
But the rejection only made his will to succeed stronger as he worked vigorously for the next six months to prove himself at the junior national archery championship.
His determination then paid off as he clinched a gold medal at the junior national archery championship without any proper training. The performance was special as it also helped him make a name for himself in his society.
"After my success, I was not Arjun anymore. I suddenly became Atanu Das. The fact is, I did not get any support from those ‘well-wishers’ when I actually needed them," Das told Sportskeeda.
And from the initial hardships, Das travelled to quite a distance and fulfilled his father's dream by making a maiden Olympic appearance at the Rio 2016. His personal dream of achieving a podium spot at the Olympics, however, still remains unfulfilled.
When will Atanu Das be in action next at Tokyo 2020?
Das began his campaign at Tokyo 2020 with the ranking round in the men's individual recurve event, where he finished, on the 35th spot. He will now take on Chinese Taipei's Deng Yu-cheng in the Round of 32 on July 29.