New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS) The inaugural Archery Premier League (APL) moved into its business end on Thursday, which saw the Mighty Marathas (MM) booking a spot in the semis while the Prithviraj Yodhas stunned the Rajputana Royals, who lost their first match of this inaugural season after seven consecutive wins.

The day started with the Marathas’ 5-1 win over the Chola Chiefs (CC). Brady Ellison for the Chiefs and Parneet Kaur for the Marathas were in brilliant 10-hitting form in the first set, but it was Dhiraj Bommadevara’s 10 on the last MM arrow just before the buzzer that stood out and tied the first set at 76-76 for one point to each of the teams.

The second set saw the Marathas holding their nerves towards the end, while a couple of loose arrows from the Chiefs under pressure, which included an 8 from recurver Deepika, left the MM recurver Dhiraj with a 9 to get on the final arrow. He delivered a 10, and MM took the set 78-76 and the two points for a 3-1 lead.

In the third set, CC’s experienced recurvers Ellison and Deepika faltered under pressure with three consecutive 8s, two of which came from Deepika, which allowed the Marathas to edge ahead by a point to win the set 75-74 and the match 5-1.

Chero Archers stay alive

Kakatiya Knights’ compounders Nico Wiener and Jyothi Surekha Vennam led from the front with four 10s, which proved to be the difference in the first set, while recurver Elia Canales stepped up towards the end to nail a 10 and put Chero Archers under pressure. Atanu Das’s 9 for CA and Rohit Kumar’s response with a 10 tied the set at 77-77, making it 1-1 to start things off.

The teams lived dangerously in the second set, which didn’t have many 10s, but Jyothi came up with one when the Knights needed it the most. With damaging 8s from both sides, including from Prithika Pradeep and Rohit, Jyothi’s 10 and Canales’s 9 proved to be the difference. But another 8 from Rohit saw the Knights surrendering their lead, and it ended in a 72-72 tie for a 2-2 scoreline.

The Knights started the third set well with a 10 from Jyothi, but Wiener dropped to an 8, which was marked for re-measure. Canales got an 8 as well for the Knights, which was marked too. Katharin Bauer put Chero Archers ahead with a 10 as they led 39-36 despite Rohit’s 10 for the Knights and Jyothi highlighting her quality with another 10. The Knights needed a bull’s eye from Wiener, and he delivered as the Chero Archers’ lead reduced to one point. The Last Chero Archers’ arrow from Das was a 9, as Rohit got a 9 for the Knights on the other end. The crucial re-measure of a couple of Knights’ 8s upgraded those to 9s, which gave them the set 76-75 for a 4-2 lead.

The dramatic fourth set saw Rohit failing to shoot the last Knights’ arrow in time, after Das’s 10 on the final shot for Chero Archers put their opponents under extreme time pressure. As it happened, Rohit took too much time to load his arrow, and the buzzer went off, giving Chero Archers the set at 77-67. It tied the match at 4-4, taking it to the shootout.

With four archers from both sides taking shots at the narrow yellow dot in the hit-or-miss shootoff, it was the 17-year-old CA youngster Prithika who remained the only one to hit the target, which gave CA the much-needed win.

Rajputana Royals vs Prithviraj Yodhas

In a must-win match for them, the Prithviraaj Yodhas stunned the unbeaten Royals for a desperate victory, beginning the game with a 76-74 win in the first set, as the experienced compounder and captain Abhishek Verma led from the front.

Verma stayed consistent for the Yodhas, starting the second set with a 10, followed by a 10 from Matias Grande. But the energetic Ojas Deotale stayed hot on the Yodhas’ heels with consistently high scoring. But Verma was in the zone and got his second 10 of the set to keep the Yodhas ahead 49-47. However, Ella Gibson’s second 10 kept the Royals within touching distance. Towards the end, Andrea Becera and Grande held their nerves under pressure with crucial 10s, which saw the Yodhas taking the second set 78-77 to lead 4-0.

Deotale set the tone for the Royals in the must-win set with a 10. But Verma didn’t relent and gave a head start to the Yodhas with another 10. After four arrows each, the Yodhas were ahead 38-37. Deotale and Verma delivered 10s again in the battle of two Indians. The cool-headed Becera joined in a 10-hitting fest which sealed a massive win for the Yodhas, who won the set 76-75 and the match 6-0 to stay alive in the race to the semis.

At the end of the day’s matches, the Royals and the Marathas were the two teams booking their place in the semis with 7 and 6 wins, respectively, in 8 matches. The other two spots will be decided between the Yodhas (8 points), Chiefs (6 points), and the Chero Archers (6 points). The Knights are out of the race with just one win in 8 matches.

–IANS

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