HYDERABAD: Colombia's Alejandra Usquiano was the standout as Chola Chiefs beat Kakatiya Knights 6-2 to register their first win of Archery Premier League Season 2 here on Friday.
Usquiano, who's making her APL debut this season, was on the money for Chiefs as she shot all eight arrows for 10s.
This result meant that both teams are now on one win and one defeat each after two matches.
The league, taking place at People's Plaza here, will conclude on October 18 with the grand finale featuring the top-four teams in the semifinal followed by the title clash.
In the first set, it was evident the Chiefs were employing an interesting tactic at the start, going with their two compound archers – Rishabh Yadav and Usquiano shooting both their arrows in the first half – and it helped start the match with a perfect half of 40. It meant the scoreboard pressure was on the Knights, who stuck to their usual routing of two compounds and two recurves alternating.
In the second set too, the Chiefs' compounds went 40 for 40, and for the Knights, Neeraj Chauhan had barely any time to get his last arrow away, and he could manage only a 5. The Chiefs scored a high 76 in that set and they took a 4-0 lead. The Knights had fought back from 0-4 down against the Mighty Marathas on Day 1 and it looked like they could turn this around again as they took the third set.
Neeraj made up for earlier slip with a super 10 with the 8th arrow and this time Marcus D'Almeida could manage only a 3 for the Chiefs when a 9 would have won the match. Knights took that set 76-70.
However, the Chiefs were simply unstoppable in the fourth set as they scored 79 out of 80. This time it was the recurve stars — Deepika Kumari and D'Almeida — who stamped their class to clinch the set 79-76 and the match 6-2.
