Chola Chiefs end five-match losing streak with shootoff win over Prithviraaj Yodhas in APL
Hyderabad: Struggling Chola Chiefs managed to end a run of five straight defeats as they beat Prithviraaj Yodhas in a thriller that went into the Hit-or-Miss Shootoff here on Thursday after a 4-4 draw in regulation time in the Archery Premier League Season 2.
For Chiefs, Colombia’s Alejandra Usquiano and India’s Yuktha Sri Kondapavuluri managed to land their arrows into the golden X-ring in the tiebreak that registered as hits while the rest of the archers scored misses for a 2-0 scoreline.
The Chiefs had been struggling for a win since the second day of the tournament but were able to stop the slump on Day 8, with just a couple of matches left in the round-robin phase. The win could have been even more comfortable as they won the first two sets and had a fairly simple equation to win the third too when their recurve archers Yuktha Sri and Marcus D’Almeida landed the arrows into the 7-ring.
The Yodhas, led by a superb X from Gatha Khadake, clinched the final set and it looked like Chiefs were about to collapse from a comfortable position. But in the tiebreaker, Usquiano laid down the marker with a brilliant X for a Hit. In fact, the Colombian compound archer finished the match with 80 out of 80 in regulation time for one of the best individual performances of this season in the APL.
The win keeps Chiefs’ chances of a top-four finish alive by taking them to four points while Yodhas stay on six points.
The world’s first franchise-based archery league, APL is initiated by the Archery Association of India and comprises six teams and a total of 48 archers, with 36 Indians and 12 elite international stars. The league, taking place at People’s Plaza in Hyderabad, will culminate on October 18 with the grand finale.
On Friday, the first match will see defending champions Rajputana Royals face off against Chola Chiefs, who are languishing at the bottom of the table. The second match will see Prithviraaj Yodhas take on local franchise Kakatiya Knights. In the final match, Mighty Marathas take on Chero Archers.