APL Season 2: Mighty Marathas Register Easy Win Against Chola Chiefs To Open Account

APL Season 2: Mighty Marathas register easy win against Chola Chiefs to open account (Mighty Marathas register easy win against Chola Chiefs to open account after two defeats in Season 2 of the Archery Premier League (APL) at Peoples Plaza in Hyderabad on Saturday. Photo credit: APL)

Archery Premier League:  After losing both their opening matches, Mighty Marathas came back in style to claim their first points in the second season of Archery Premier League (APL), beating Chola Chiefs comprehensively without dropping a single set in Hyderabad on Saturday.

The Marathas, led by Mike Schloesser and anchored by Dhiraj Bommadevara under time pressure, beat Chiefs 6-0 for their first win of the tournament, while Chiefs have now suffered two defeats in three matches.

Schloesser, nicknamed 'Mr. Perfect', lived up to the billing as he shot 10s with all six arrows for Marathas.

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.

The Chiefs stuck to their tactic from Day 2 as they opted for their compound archers to shoot back-to-back at the start of the set. But Chikitha Taniparthi's two 9s meant they couldn't impose the same sort of scoreboard pressure on their opponents. Marathas' recurve archers shot a couple of 8s, but their compound archers had done enough to ensure they took the first set 74-73.

In the second set, Marathas' star recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara came up with a super 10 under pressure of the clock winding down, and the Mighty Marathas took a 4-0 lead. It was another set of 9s for Taniparthi in the second set, which prompted the Chiefs to unsurprisingly bring on Colombia's Alejandra Usquiano, who was on fire on the second day.

In the third set, after a decent start from the compound archers, Deepika Kumari and Marcus D'Almeida couldn't keep the pressure on as they erred outside of the yellow zone on the target. The Marathas held it steady to take a low-scoring set 74-72 and ensure the match was wrapped up even before the fourth set.

In the second set, Marathas' star recurve archer Dhiraj Bommadevara came up with a super 10 under pressure of the clock winding down, and the Mighty Marathas took a 4-0 lead. It was another set of 9s for Taniparthi in the second set, which prompted the Chiefs to unsurprisingly bring on Colombia's Alejandra Usquiano, who was on fire on the second day.

Article Source: IANS