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National Games

Took collective decision with Deepika to focus on personal life: Atanu Das

Returning with a bang at the National Games, archer Atanu Das says he had taken a step back because the burden of his Olympics disappointment was too much to bear.

Took collective decision with Deepika to focus on personal life: Atanu Das
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Atanu Das in action during his gold medal match at the National Games

By

The Bridge Desk

Updated: 6 Oct 2022 11:53 PM GMT

Ahmedabad: For over two months after his failure to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Atanu Das went on vacations, talked to his wife Deepika Kumari about starting a family to ensure that there was more to life for them than just archery and only picked up the bow and arrow when he made his peace with his disappointment.

Atanu then changed his approach in training and even travelled to different locations to get back into his groove. Late on Thursday evening, here at the Sanskardam Sports Complex near Ahmedabad, the West Bengal archer's tribulations came to an end as he won the Men's Individual Recurve gold, beating Gurcharan Besra of Services in the gold medal match of the 36th National Games.

Not too surprisingly, he whooped like a child and unabashedly celebrated his triumph.

"The upcoming year is very important for us. This gold is reassuring that my preparations are on the right track.

"You can say I am an upgraded version of myself. Thoda chillana kam jar diya hoon (Have stopped shouting now). But when I do something big, you will see me shouting in excitement," he added.

Atanu Das, who had lost to Japan's Takaharu Furukawa of Japan in Tokyo, hasn't been able to make it to the Indian squad since then and was also dropped from the Target Olympic Podium scheme.

Change of pace works for Atanu

Though the 30-year-old is disappointed with how things turned out after the Tokyo Games, he said the changes in his personal life have also made him a lot calmer. Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari are expecting their first child in December this year and he is definitely excited to start this new phase of life.

"After I lost at the Olympics, the burden was too much for me to bear. You train all your life for that one moment. And then when you experience defeat, particularly knowing well that you were good enough to win a medal, it gets too much.

"Both Deepika and me tried to neutralise this by focusing on our personal life," said Atanu Das, adding he has understood the importance of staying calm and not allowing anything to overwhelm him.

"Earlier I would get affected by things people would say. Not so much now," he added.

Since returning to training, Atanu Das has moved from Shillong to Kolkata via Pune and Jabalpur to try and train in different conditions and has also focused on endurance and strength building. He has also added a lot more variety in his training schedule to avoid making it monotonous and also to prepare him for knock out matches.

"It is quite different when you stand at that shooting line during a match. Things don't always go according to plan," said Atanu Das, who managed to raise the bar after being locked 4-4 with Gurcharan Besra.

He came up with two consecutive 10s and a nine on the third was enough to clinch the title.

Haryana bagged the rest of the gold medals – Men's and Women's Team, Women's Individual and Mixed Doubles – to dominate the recurve events.

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