Chola Chiefs stun Rajputana Royals in Archery Premier League

Hyderabad: They may be out of contention for a place in the playoffs, but Chola Chiefs played spoilsport for the second consecutive evening, handing Rajputana Royals a damaging defeat in Season 2 of the Archery Premier League here on Friday.

The result puts Rajputana Royals’ chances of defending their title under threat. They remain on eight points, with only one match left to play. The Chiefs have moved to six points, but their set-points difference is too steep for them to have any chance of qualifying for the top four. They will finish their season on Saturday regardless.

Although they have struggled for consistency, the Chiefs have shown that they can adapt their shooting order, as they did earlier in the season by fielding compound archers back-to-back at the start of the sets.

This time, they opted to field in-form Alejandra Usquiano and veteran Rajat Chauhan as their anchors in each set, with the recurve archers shooting before them. Usquiano, who scored a perfect 80 on Thursday and then hit the bull’s-eye in the shoot-off, was once again in impeccable form, scoring 79 out of 80 on Friday. Before recording her first nine, she had shot six tens, five of which landed in the X-ring.

Rajat later said he had suggested to the coaches that they adopt this new order for the match, and they had agreed. He added that he had years of experience as the closing shooter for the Indian compound team in international competition.

In the first set, the Royals made a poor start, managing only 69 points, with Tokyo Olympic champion Mete Gazoz scoring a six. The Royals fought back to take the second set comfortably after Ella Gibson came on as a substitute for Swati Dudhwal. However, the Chiefs, led by a perfect 40 from their compound archers, won the third set.

In the final set, Rajat Chauhan shot a crucial nine with his last arrow to level the scores and help his side secure a 5-3 victory.