HYDERABAD: Struggling Chola Chiefs managed to stem the rot of five straight defeats as they beat Prithviraaj Yodhas in a thriller that went into the Hit-or-Miss Shootoff after a 4-4 draw in regulation time in the Archery Premier League Season 2 on Thursday.
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 second season of APL has a new playoffs format that rewards teams finishing higher in the league standings, and ensures competitive fairness. The sides that finish first and second will have two shots at qualifying for the grand final on Sunday, while the team finishing third and fourth will face off in Eliminator 1 on the penultimate day (October 17) after the regular schedule of three matches. The winner of that clash will proceed to Eliminator 2. On Sunday, the two top sides will meet in the Short-cut Decider with the winner reaching the title clash and the loser facing the winner of Eliminator 2 to decide the second finalist.
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.
Watch Archery Premier League on Sony Sports Network