APL Season 2: Kakatiya Knights, Mighty Marathas Stay Clear At Top; Prithviraaj Yodhas Bounce Back

APL Season 2: Kakatiya Knights, Mighty Marathas stay clear at top; Prithviraaj Yodhas bounce back (Kakatiya Knights, Mighty Marathas stay clear at top; Prithviraaj Yodhas bounce back in Season 2 of the Archery Premier League (APL) in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Photo credit: APL)

BEST ARCHERS OF THE DAY:  Kakatiya Knights and Mighty Marathas stayed clear on top of the standings, both reaching 10 points with comprehensive wins on Day 7 of the competition in Season 2 of the Archery Premier League (APL) on Wednesday.

Kakatiya Knights and Mighty Marathas beat Rajputana Royals and Chola Chiefs, respectively, while earlier in the day, Prithivraaj Yodhas downed Chero Archers to move into third place on eight points.

In the final match of the day, Chiefs’ woeful run of form continued as they remained rooted to the bottom of the table with just one win in seven matches, suffering a fifth straight defeat. In complete contrast, Marathas, who had started the season with two losses, have now won five on the trot and appear to be the team to beat.

The last time Prithviraaj Yodhas and Chero Archers met, they needed three Sudden Death tiebreakers to decide the winner. But in the reverse fixture, Yodhas made light work of Chero Archers and registered a convincing 5-1.

The Yodhas were led by some superb shooting by 16-year-old recurve archer Gatha Anandrao Khadake, who shot 58 out of a possible 60, and Asian Games compound medallist Ganesh Thirumuru (59).

With this win, Yodhas arrested their own mini slump while Chero Archers – who had started the season brightly- have now suffered three straight defeats.

Archery Premier League, 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 featuring the top four teams in the semifinals, followed by the title clash.

Carrying on from where they left off in their previous meeting, it appeared as though there would be very little to separate Yodhas and Chero as they tied the first set 75-75. But the second set would slip away from Chero as Kumkum Mohod was left with little time to shoot the final arrow, and she could manage only a 7, while Yodhas finished the set strongly with four 10s.

USA’s Casey Kaufhold then replaced Kumkum ahead of the third set, but she started with an 8 that opened up a window for Yodhas, who saw Gatha step up once more with two 10s in that set. Matias Grande calmly closed out the set and match 77-74.

In the second match, not for the first time this season, Royals had two of the best-scoring archers in the match, but when it mattered, Knights came up with clutch arrows, led by the impeccable Neeraj Chauhan, who has emerged as one of the stories of the APL season with his consistently high scores while shooting last in each set.

While his 8 in the first set could have proved costly, Royals’ Mete Gazoz missed the 10 by the smallest of margins to give Knights the first set.

The second set would turn out to be the best of the night as all eight archers were in sensational form, but Neeraj’s final X gave it to the Knights 79-78. The Royals showed a hint of a fightback by taking the third set, but the Knights sealed their win with Neeraj anchoring with another 10. The local franchise also had Jyothi Surekha Vennam in fine form as she shot 78 from her eight arrows.

For the Marathas, the strategy since getting off to a slow start has been ‘attack, attack, attack’, and they found a new hero on the night in recurve archer Simranjeet Kaur, who shot a sensational 59 out of 60.

With Dhiraj Bommadevara in good form again, Simranjeet’s scores propped up the Marathas even more, with compound archers Mike Schloesser and Parneet Kaur doing their bit. The Chiefs, who brought back Chikitha Taniparthi into the starting lineup, struggled to get going once again as they lost all three sets.

On Thursday, as the league phase heads into its business end, Prithviraaj Yodhas will hope to capitalise on Chola Chiefs’ inconsistent form and move closer to the semifinals in the first match.

Defending champions Rajputana Royals will face the red-hot Mighty Marathas in the second match, and the day’s action will conclude with local franchise Kakatiya Knights facing Chero Archers in what could be the match of the day.

BEST ARCHERS OF THE DAY (Rs 1 lakh reward each):

Recurve male: Atanu Das (Chero)

Recurve female: Simranjeet Kaur (Marathas)

Compound male: Ojas Deotale (Royals)

Compound female: Ella Gibson (Royals) & Jyothi Surekha Vennam (Knights)

SCORES -- DAY 7:

Match 1: Prithviraaj Yodhas 5-1 (75-75, 77-75, 77-74) Chero Archers

Match 2: Kakatiya Knights 6-2 (74-73, 79-78, 74-75, 76-74) Rajputana Royals

Match 1: Prithviraaj Yodhas 5-1 (75-75, 77-75, 77-74) Chero Archers

Article Source: IANS