The other married archers who competed in Tokyo are Florian Unruh and Lisa Unruh of Germany. A silver medalist in the women’s individual event at the 2016 Rio Games, she was part of the German women’s team that won bronze in Tokyo on Sunday. He made it to the quarterfinals on Saturday, after having upset another Korean Olympic gold medalist.
With Covid-19 raging in India and the government keen to raise its Olympic profile, the archery team was dispatched to an army sports institute in the city of Pune to train for eight months. Being away from family for so long was difficult, but Kumari and Das had each other.
In June, they won gold in the mixed team event at an archery World Cup competition. But Das’s shooting was considered erratic in the run-up to the Games, and they were not paired for competition in Tokyo. Kumari and her mixed team partner, Pravin Jadhav, made it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Korean rivals.
Das and Kumari had originally planned to get married around the time of the Tokyo Olympics. But the Games were delayed, and they decided to marry last year. On one ring finger, Das wears his wedding band. On the other, he has a golden band with the Olympic rings.
“Now it’s over,” he said, “but we’ll be back in three years.”