Chiefs, Yodhas post wins; Royals stumble

Chola Chiefs defeated Kakatiya Knights 6-2 to register its first win of Archery Premier League season-2 at the People’s Plaza here on Friday. Colombia’s Alejandra Usquiano, on her APL debut, shot all eight arrows for 10s, with the Chiefs’ tactical tweak paying off against Nico Wiener’s Knights.

Chiefs’ tactic of having their compound archers Rishabh Yadav and Usquiano shoot both their arrows in the first half helped start the contest with a perfect half of 40. Knights, in the end, couldn’t recover from the scoreboard pressure.

While the compound archers were on fire, Chiefs’ recurve stars Deepika Kumari and Marcus D’Almeida also joined the party to help it clinch the final set 79-76 and the match.

In the second match, Chero Archers got the better of Rajputana Royals. Royals took the first set but couldn’t sustain the momentum. Archers’ move to substitute in Atanu Das for Yashdeep Bhoge ahead of the second set, proved to be a masterstroke as he and Casey Kaufhold helped the team come from behind to win 6-2.

Later, Prithviraj Yodhas registered its first win, beating Mighty Marathas 6-2. Like Royals before them, Marathas began well but couldn’t build on it.

Abhishek Verma-led Yodhas were a whisker away from a perfect 80 in the third set, before the eighth arrow from Matias Grande slipped into the nine zone. But they had done enough by then to get a leg up on Marathas.

The results: Chola Chiefs bt Kakatiya Knights 6-2 (74-76, 70-76, 76-70, 79-76).

Rajputana Royals lost to Chero Archers 2-6 (78-69, 66-78, 77-78, 72-78).

Mighty Marathas lost to Prithviraj Yodhas 2-6 (73-71, 75-76, 77-79, 74-76).