At the last Asian Games in Jakarta, India’s star recurve archer Atanu Das, 31, had his wife and fellow archer Deepika Kumari, 29, for company. The duo were always close at hand, egging and encouraging not just each other, but also their teammates at the GBK archery field in the Indonesian capital.

This time however, former World No. 1 Deepika, who was making a comeback after her maternity break, failed to make it to the Indian team. On Tuesday, Atanu would have surely missed her by his side, when he stepped in for the shoot-off against China’s Qi Xiangshuo at the Fuyang Yingu Sports Centre after fighting back to tie the match at 5-5. In the shoot-off, he shot a 10 while Qi pierced the target with an inner-10 (10-plus score) to win the match and enter the semi-finals.