TOKYO: The world’s top-ranked male archer Brady Ellison of the United States was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Olympic individual event on Saturday, ending his quest for a first gold at his fourth Games.

Ellison lost 7-3 to Turkey’s Mete Gazoz who went on to win the event and claim his country’s first gold medal at the Tokyo Games.

“The Olympics are definitely the biggest thing that we shoot. It is just harder to win the Olympics,” Ellison told reporters. “Every match is different. Every moment is different.”

The 32-year-old set a world record in 2019 and was taking momentum into the Tokyo Olympics as he targeted his first Olympic gold.

Nonetheless, Ellison said he was happy to be reunited with his wife and an infant son who crawled for the first time early on Saturday. His Slovenian wife is also an archer.

“I get to go home to them and go do all that fun dad stuff that I’ve been missing out on for the last month,” he said. “I’ll be back in Paris and LA.”

Italy’s Mauro Nespoli claimed silver and Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa bronze. Furukawa also won bronze in the men’s team event.

South Korea’s Kim Woo-jin, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, lost 6-4 to Taiwan’s Tang Chih-Chun in the individual event quarter-finals.

South Korea has dominated the Olympic archery tournament, winning gold in the two team events and women’s singles, but will not complete a clean sweep.

“This is what life is. Not everything has a happy ending,” Kim said.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2021