Archery Premier League: Chiefs, Archers and Yodhas each set the pace with 6-2 wins

Colombia’s Alejandra Usquiano, on her APL debut, shot all eight arrows for 10s, with the Chiefs’ tactical tweak paying off against Nico Wiener’s Knights. | Photo Credit: Archery Premier League

Chola Chiefs defeated Kakatiya Knights 6-2 to register their first win of Archery Premier League season 2 at the People’s Plaza here on Friday. Colombia’s Alejandra Usquiano, on her APL debut, shot all eight arrows for 10s, with the Chiefs’ tactical tweak paying off against Nico Wiener’s Knights.

Chiefs’ tactic of having their compound archers Rishabh Yadav and Usquiano shoot both their arrows in the first half helped start the contest with a perfect half of 40. Knights, in the end, couldn’t recover from the scoreboard pressure.

While the compound archers were on fire, Chief’s recurve stars Deepika Kumari and Marcus D’Almeida also joined the party to help their side clinch the final set 79-76 and the match 6-2.

In the second match, Chero Archers got the better of Rajputana Royals. Royals took the first set but couldn’t sustain their momentum. Archers, who substituted in Atanu Das for Yashdeep Bhoge ahead of the second set, proved to be a masterstroke as he and Casey Kaufhold helped Archers come from behind to win 6-2.

Later, Prithviraj Yodhas registered its first win of the campaign, beating Mighty Marathas 6-2. Like Royals before them, Marathas began strong by taking an early lead but couldn’t build on it.

Abhishek Verma-led Yodhas came a whisker away from a perfect 80 in the third set, before the eighth arrow from Matias Grande slipped into the 9 zone. But they had done enough by then to get a leg up on Marathas. Yodhas’ 16-year-old recurve archer Gatha Khadake also impressed.

The scores:

Kakatiya Knights 6 - 2 Chola Chiefs (74-76, 70-76, 76-70, 79-76).

Rajputana Royals 2 - 6 Chero Archers (78-69, 66-78, 77-78, 72-78).

Mighty Marathas 2 - 6 Prithviraj Yodhas (73-71, 75-76, 77-79, 74-76).