Archery Premier League: USA’s world No. 1 recurve archer Brady Ellison’s first visit to India is proving to be a memorable one for him both professionally and personally. Here in the national capital for the inaugural Archery Premier League (APL), Ellison is captivated by the welcome and the admiration he has received while leading the Chola Chiefs franchise.
The six-team APL began on Dussehra, October 2, and will continue until October 12. In their three matches so far, the Chiefs have won twice with Ellison in excellent shooting form, leading from the front.
"It's really nice. I'm still struggling like crazy from jet lag. We've been kind of practicing more and then I've kind of been taking a nap in the middle of the day,” said Ellison, who has been overwhelmed by the attention whenever he steps up to shoot. “I have got a big fan base here. I can feel it in the crowd and I can feel it with the people taking pictures, asking for autographs and stuff.
Ellison is the only male archer to have won the Archery World Cup final six times, besides being a veteran of five Olympics in which he has secured five medals, including an individual silver at the Paris Games and an individual bronze at Rio.
A three-time champion in field archery as well, Ellison is relishing the unique challenges that the APL presents to the archers in the league, which includes Indian veterans like Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai, Abhishek Verma, and promising youngsters like Ojas Deotale, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, and Dhiraj Bommadevara.
"My first reaction was, it (APL) was going to be different and I didn't know how it was going to work," said Ellison, who began as a compound archer but shifted to recurve in 2005.
The league is played in a format that includes both recurve and compound archers in a squad of eight players per team. Ellison said it bodes well for the sport, especially as compound will make its debut at the LA 2028 Olympics in the mixed team event.
"I think that it's going to really help everything in a way (because) compound is the next evolution of archery and I think that it deserves a space. I would like to see the compound grow in the Olympics, and I would also like recurve to remain,” said the 36-year-old American.
Talking about the APL, Ellison finds the time limit to shoot the most challenging aspect that will take time for the archers to get used to.
For every set played, the team has 120 seconds to shoot eight arrows (two arrows per archer).
“Almost every team, a lot of ends, players are shooting on the buzzer, hurrying to the lines, making mistakes that you normally don't see us make. It is a hard timed format,” Ellison analysed.
“When I read the rules, I thought there might be a mistake. 120 seconds for 8 arrows; I was like probably it's a typo, and I was sure when we get here it'll be different,” he added.
“Almost every team, a lot of ends, players are shooting on the buzzer, hurrying to the lines, making mistakes that you normally don't see us make. It is a hard timed format,” Ellison analysed.
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Ellison concluded by sharing his experience in India in the first week of his visit, "I'm impressed with this country because it's one of the most receiving and giving countries I've been to. Everyone here has been very kind, asking if you need anything, just bringing you things. It's a very giving culture it seem, and it's very different to what I expected or honestly anywhere else that I've been to,” he said.