Marathas outlast Archers in an exciting shootoff

Mighty Marathas rallied to beat Chero Archers in a thrilling contest of the Archery Premier League season 2 at People’s Plaza on Monday.

Archers, in trademark fashion, started strongly and took the first set. But there was little to separate the teams in the second and third, and the points were split. The final set was also a high-scoring affair and it needed a double check of where the arrows landed before Marathas levelled the scores and took the proceedings into a hit-or-miss shootoff.

Aman Saini and Dhiraj Bommadevara nailed their arrows into the yellow ring.

Mathias Fullerton was the only one to do the same for Archers, giving Marathas a 2-1 win via the tiebreaker.

Later, the Chola Chiefs struggled from the beginning. It was such a woeful display that it couldn’t even get the last arrow out in time and could fare only marginally better in the second set.

Chiefs substituted in Deepika Kumari and Marcus D’Almeida for the third set, but the damage could not repaired. Though the two stepped up, Mete Gazoz nailed a 10 with his final arrow to hand defending champion Rajputana Royals a comfortable win.

Prithviraj Yoddhas’ bid to climb to the top of the table was spoiled by Kakatiya Knights.

Nico Wiener, back in the team, was on song as Knights raced to a 4-0 lead. Nico, Neeraj Chauhan and Elia Canales did enough in the final set to seal the contest despite Jyothi Surekha having a rare off-day.

The scores: Mighty Marathas 4 drew with Chero Archers 4 (74-76, 76-76, 77-77, 77-76). Marathas won 2-1 via tiebreaker.

Rajputana Royals bt Chola Chiefs 5-1 (71-63, 74-69, 78-78).

Kakatiya Knights bt Prithviraj Yodhas 6-2 (77-76, 76-75, 72-76, 77-73).