Hyderabad, Oct 17 (IANS) After their brief stumble on Thursday, Mighty Marathas and Kakatiya Knights returned to winning ways in the Archery Premier League (APL) and confirmed their places in the top two of the league phase of Season 2.
While the Marathas swept aside Chero Archers 6-0, Knights defeated Prithviraaj Yodhas 6-2 in one of the best matches of the season. The results took Marathas and Knights to 12 points, which none of the other four teams can now match.
Earlier in the day, despite being out of contention for a place in the playoffs, the Chola Chiefs played spoilsports for the second straight evening, this time handing Rajputana Royals a damaging defeat.
The battle for the third and fourth places in the playoffs now goes down to the wire with Royals, Chero and Yodhas all level on 8 points and very little to choose between them in terms of tiebreakers.
The match of the day was local franchise Knights’ win over last season’s finalists Yodhas. Buoyed by the return of in-form Neeraj Chauhan, Knights were off to a strong start by taking the first set 77-74. The second set produced undoubtedly the most unique combination of 8 arrows as the Yodhas and Knights shot X, X, 9, 10, 9, 10, 9, and 9 in that exact same order to split the points.
The third set would also go on to be a tie as Matias Grande and Neeraj Chauhan stepped up to shoot the respective final arrows with the scores level at 67-67. Grande shot an X, and under pressure, Neeraj responded with an X of his own. It was a critical moment that preserved the Knights’ two-point lead.
In the fourth set, the Knights were once again on the brink of shooting the perfect set of 80, but Neeraj’s final arrow missed the inner ring by a whisker. That 79 was, however, more than enough to give the Knights the win and their place in the playoffs.
In the final match, Dhiraj Bommadevara returned to the lineup for Marathas, who also had recurver Alejandra Valencia and compounder Aman Saini in fine form as they swept aside Chero Archers 6-0. While compound world No. 1 Mathias Fullerton was once again in fine form for Chero with a perfect 60, the rest of Chero’s archers struggled for consistency.
Archery Premier League (APL), the world’s first franchise-based archery league, is initiated by the Archery Association of India and comprises six teams and a total of 48 archers, with 36 Indians and 12 elite international stars. The league, taking place at People’s Plaza in Hyderabad, will culminate on October 18 with the grand finale.
The second season of APL will also have a new playoffs format that rewards teams finishing higher in the league standings and ensures competitive fairness. The sides that finish first and second will have two shots at qualifying for the grand final on Sunday, while the team finishing third and fourth will face off in Eliminator 1 on the penultimate day.
Earlier in the day, Chiefs’ win puts Rajputana Royals’ chances of defending their title under threat as they remain on 8 points with only one match left to play. Chiefs move to 6 points, but their set points difference is too steep for them to have a chance to qualify in the top four and will finish their season on Saturday irrespective.
Chiefs opted to field the in-form Alejandra Usquiano and veteran Rajat Chauhan as their anchors in each of the sets, while the recurve archers shot before them. Usquiano, who scored a perfect 80 on Thursday and then shot the bull’s eye in the shootoff too, was once again in impeccable form, shooting 79 out of 80 on Friday. Before she hit her first 9, she shot six 10s and five of those arrows were in the X-ring.
Saturday’s action – with four matches scheduled – will start with a rehearsal for Sunday’s big clash between Mighty Marathas and Kakatiya Knights. Chola Chiefs, having already been eliminated, will play for pride against Chero Archers. The league phase will conclude with a rematch of the first season’s title clash, where Rajputana Royals take on Prithviraaj Yodhas in a critical match that will decide the playoffs order. The Eliminator 1 will immediately follow.
BEST ARCHERS OF THE DAY (Rs 1 lakh reward each):
Recurve male: Neeraj Chauhan (Knights)
Recurve female: Alejandra Valencia (Marathas)
Compound male: Mathias Fullerton (Chero)
Compound female: Alejandra Usquiano (Chiefs)
SCORES – DAY 9:
Match 1: Chola Chiefs 5-3 (77-69, 73-78, 76-74, 76-76) Rajputana Royals
Match 2: Kakatiya Knights 6-2 (77-74, 76-76, 77-77, 79-75) Prithviraaj Yodhas
Match 3: Mighty Marathas 6-0 (75-74, 77-75, 76-71) Chero Archers
–IANS
bsk/
