Rajputana Royals Open Archery Premier League Title Defence With Victory

The Rajputana Royals have signalled their intent to retain the Archery Premier League crown, opening their Season 2 campaign with a hard-fought 5-3 victory against the Prithviraaj Yodhas. The match, held at the People’s Plaza on Thursday, served as a rematch of the inaugural season’s final, with the defending champions once again proving their mettle in a high-stakes encounter.

The Royals were spearheaded by the impressive form of compound archers Ojas Deotale and Ella Gibson, who provided the foundation for the win, while Mete Gazoz offered crucial support throughout the contest. Despite a sluggish start, the Yodhas, captained by Abhishek Verma, mounted a spirited comeback that nearly forced the match into a decisive shoot-off. However, the pressure proved too much in the final moments, as Mathias Grande recorded an eight with his concluding arrow, allowing the Royals to secure the win with set scores of 75-69, 73-74, 77-77, and 76-75.

In the final fixture of the night, the Chero Archers edged out the Chola Chiefs 5-3. The Archers claimed the opening set, but the Chiefs responded well to bring the match to a 2-2 stalemate. The contest remained tight until the final set, where the Chiefs’ duo of Chikitha Taniparthi and Rajat Chauhan struggled to maintain pressure, dropping a pair of 9s. Despite a tricky penultimate arrow from Casey Kaufhold, the Archers maintained their composure to close out the match. Earlier in the day, the event featured a ceremony where Telangana’s Sports Minister, Vakiti Srihari, joined Telangana Olympic Association president A.P. Jithender Reddy and APL director Anil Kamineni to honour India’s Asian Games medallists.