Prithviraj Yodhas join Rajputana Royals and Mighty Marathas in Archery Premier League semifinals on Day 9

Andrea Beccera of Prithviraaj Yodhas in Action on Day 9 of Archery Premier League. 

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi: The penultimate day of the round-robin stage in the inaugural Archery Premier League (APL) at the Yamuna Sports Complex here saw the Prithviraj Yodhas joining the Rajputana Royals and the Mighty Marathas in the semifinals, while the Kakatiya Knights came back from the dead to stay in contention for a top-four finish.

The Knights began the evening by keeping themselves mathematically alive after winning 5-1 against the Chola Chiefs, who had their top archers Brady Ellison and Deepika Kumari off colour, while Nico Wiener and Avneet Kaur displayed exemplary skills to lead their team’s 76-72, 79-76, 76-76 victory.

Katherine Bauer of Chero Archers in Action on Day 9 of Archery Premier League. 

It took the Knights to four points, which means if they win their last league match on Saturday, they could still be in contention but remain dependent on other results and set win/loss difference.

Mathias Fullerton of Chero Archers in Action on Day 9 of Archery Prmier League. 

The defeat kept the Chiefs at six points, the same as the Chero Archers, who lost to the Yodhas 5-3 (78-78, 78-73, 74-75, 77-76). As a result, the Yodhas reached 10 points from 9 matches, confirming their spot in the semis.

The best of the day, however, was reserved for the last on the evening when the table-toppers Marathas and the Royals locked horns.

It took a classic comeback and historic shootoff to decide the winner in an evenly-contested match that turned on its head after Ojas Deotale was substituted by the Royals in the third set, when they were trailing 0-4.

A near-perfect archery in Set 4 saw the Royals dropping just one point before winning the high-scoring set 79-77 and reducing the deficit to 2-4. The rich vein of form of their archers, including Mete Gazoz, Ankita Bhakat and Ella Gibson, continued for a 76-72 win in the fourth sets, which forced the match into a shootoff at 4-4.

The tiebreaking shootoff turned out to be a historic one, which saw more than one shooter hitting the yellow mark for the first time in this inaugural APL. But the two hits from compounders Deotale and Gibson ended the shootoff 2-1 in favour of the Royals, while Schloesser hit once for the Marathas.