CHENNAI: Season two of the Archery Premier League (APL) in Hyderabad could not have come at a better time. Just after Indian archers made history at the Asian Games by winning five gold medals in Japan, the league, filled with top-class players, has been gaining attention. Director and chairman of the league, Anil Kamineni, cannot be more happier than he is today with how the league is performing on all metrics.
But this time last-year the story was completely different as Kamineni and his team set out to attract more people into the sport. A first in the world of archery, season one of APL featured 48 archers in six eight-member teams. Top international stars like 2024 gold medallist Elia Canales and World No 1 Ella Gibson also participated. The key objective was to set a base for the forthcoming season.
“The results of these recent Asian Games have shown that we are all going in the right direction as far as archery in India is concerned. And APL is also one of the reasons why it has helped us,” he told this daily. While acknowledging the contribution of the Archery Association of India and the coaches, Kamineni believed competition against top-level archers and a reduced shot clock in the inaugural season has helped them do away with pressure. “Our objective was to make sure that they don't feel the pressure. Being with these international archers for so many days, training and shooting with them has helped them. And then easing the pressure by getting used to the 15-second shot clock has helped them too. So these two things have helped our archers very much and they also feel the same way,” he explained.
The 15-second shot clock is something that archers have taken a liking to. This season, sudden-death rounds have brought excitement among fans and archers. Kamineni said that the league will keep exploring for ideas. “We are always thinking on how to make the league more exciting to the audience and tougher for the archers also. There are slight tweaks in the shootouts and teams get to name substitutes for each round,” he said.
Kamineni also said that potential sponsors are in the waiting and expected more from next season. “Sponsors were decided much earlier than the Asian Games. But after it concluded, a lot of them have shown interest. I'm sure that having seen what our archers are doing and how it's becoming popular, I expect more sponsors in the coming season," he said.
While Kamineni acknowledged the surge in TV viewership from last year, he stressed on the importance of popularising the sport by bringing children from remote and tribal areas to the stadium. “That is the most important thing. Even our anthem says 'Aao Banaye Archery Ko Mahan' (Come, let’s make archery great). We hope they get inspired from it and down the line as we go, we hope to see more youngsters come into the league. This season, we have around 13-14 new players in the league. That should continue next season as well because they can improve their standards by playing with the top internationals," he said.