Chola Chiefs and Prithviraaj Yodhas registered their first wins of the season while Chero Archers made it two wins out of two on the second day of Archery Premier League Season 2 here on Friday.
Using their compound archers back-to-back in a bid to apply pressure at the start of each set, Chola Chiefs defeated Kakatiya Knights 6-2 to register their first win of the season.
It was Colombia's Alejandra Usquiano, on her APL debut, who was on sensational form for Chiefs as she shot all eight arrows for 10s, with the Chiefs' tactical tweak paying off against Nico Wiener's Knights. This result meant that both teams are now on one win and one defeat each after two matches.
Chero Archers maintain winning streak
In the second match, defending champions Rajputana Royals couldn't make it two wins in two as they went down against Atanu Das-inspired Chero Archers. After taking the first set, Royals couldn't sustain their momentum, whereas Chero were rewarded for a proactive early substitution to bring in Atanu for Yashdeep Bhoge.
The recurve stars for Chero – Atanu and Casey Kaufhold of USA – were on song as Chero won the next three sets to take the match 6-2, with the Indian veteran shooting five 10s out of his six arrows. While Royals are on one win and one defeat now, Chero Archers are setting the pace in the tournament with two wins out of two matches.
In the final match of the day, it was another come-from-behind win as Prithviraaj Yodhas bounced back from their defeat to Royals to get the better of Mighty Marathas, now suffering two defeats in two and lagging behind the rest.
Chiefs' tactical approach pays off
In the first set of the opening match, it was evident the Chiefs were employing an interesting tactic at the start, going with their two compound archers – Rishabh Yadav and Usquiano shooting both their arrows in the first half – and it helped start the match with a perfect half of 40. It meant the scoreboard pressure was on the Knights, who stuck to their usual routine of two compounds and two recurves alternating.
In the second set too, the Chiefs' compounds went 40 for 40, and for the Knights, Neeraj Chauhan had barely any time to get his last arrow away, and he could manage only a 5. The Chiefs scored a high 76 in that set, and they took a 4-0 lead.
The Knights had fought back from 0-4 down against the Mighty Marathas on Day 1, and it looked like they could turn this around again as they took the third set. Neeraj made up for an earlier slip with a super 10 with the 8th arrow, and this time Marcus D'Almeida could manage only a 3 for the Chiefs when a 9 would have won the match. Knights took that set 76-70.
But the fourth set was simply sensational for the Chiefs as they scored 79 out of 80. The compound archers were anyway on fire, but their recurve stars Deepika Kumari and D'Almeida showed their class to clinch the set 79-76 and the match 6-2.
Yodhas stage comeback against Marathas
In the final match, Abhishek Verma-led Yodhas came mighty close to the perfect 80 in the third set, but the eighth arrow from Matias Grande sailed just wide into the 9 zone. But they had done enough to beat Marathas after dropping the opening set. Young recurve archer Gatha Khadake bounced back from a slow start for Yodhas to finish impressively in the match.
Day 3 fixtures and broadcast details
On the third day of action, Mighty Marathas will clash with Chola Chiefs to begin proceedings. That will be followed by Prithviraaj Yodhas vs Chero Archers. Saturday’s action will conclude with defending champions Rajputana Royals facing Kakatiya Knights.
The league is being broadcast on Sony LIV, Doordarshan, Archery Association of India YouTube, and Archery+. Tickets are available on District by Zomato.
Scores: Day 2
Match 1: Chola Chiefs 6-2 Kakatiya Knights
Match 2: Chero Archers 6-2 Rajputana Royals
Match 3: Prithviraaj Yodhas 6-2 Mighty Marathas
Best archers of the day (Rs 1 lakh reward each)
Recurve male: Atanu Das
Recurve female: Casey Kaufhold
Compound male: Kushal Dalal
Compound female: Alejandra Usquiano
