Mighty Marathas, Rajputana Royals, Chola Chiefs win as the Archery Premier League kicks off amid fanfare

(L TO R) Anil Kamineni Director Archery Premier League, Shri Arjun Munda President AAI, Global Star Ramcharan on Inaugural Stage of APL-1.

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi:The inaugural Archery Premier League (APL) kicked off at the Yamuna Sports Complex in the national capital on Thursday, but not before rain threatened a washout. However, the skies cleared in time for the arrows to fly, which saw three exhilarating matches of the first round-robin phase.

The evening began on a glamorous note, with global superstar of the cinema world Ram Charan gracing the opening ceremony as the brand ambassador of the APL. Also present on the occasion was another cine star Randeep Hooda, who co-owns the Prithiviraaj Yodhas .

Deepika Kumari in Action on Day 1 of Archery Premier League. 

After Ram Charan met all the players of the six squads that lined up under the lights in the playing arena, the first match saw Chola Chiefs up against Chero Archers.

The unique format of the league involves two recurve and two compound archers in a playing team of four, out of which two should be male and two female. All four in a team have to shoot two arrows each in a set within a stipulated time of 120 seconds. The team securing five or more points first in a best-of-three-sets match is declared the winner of the match.

Global Star Ram Charan Gracing the Players on Archery Premier League Inaugural Srage. 

Chola Chiefs edged out Chero Archers to secure the opening win of the APL Season 1, winning 5-1. In a closely contested match, the Chiefs won the first set 77-73 and moved to four points by winning the second set 75-74. The two teams split the points in the third set that ended at 76-76.

The second match of the day had Kakatiya Knights facing Mighty Marathas, and the Marathas overwhelmed their opponents 6-0, winning the three sets 73-66, 77-72, 78-71.

The day concluded with Rajputana Royals blanking Prithviraaj Yodhas 6-0. They won the three sets 75-72, 74-72, 77-74.