The first day of the Archery Premier League has wrapped at the Yamuna Sports Complex in Delhi, with ten more days of daily competition to go in this inaugural season.
The 2025 edition features six teams with a total of 48 archers – 36 from India and 12 internationals – competing in each team of eight, who were picked through a draft system.
The unique format features mixed teams of both recurve and compound archers, shooting at 70m and 50m respectively. Matches use the set system, with all eight archers in a team shooting one arrow for a maximum of 80 points.
Just 120 seconds are allowed for each team, bringing the shooting time per arrow to just 15 seconds, rather than the normal 20 seconds – adding a element of strategy and time management to competition.
The round-robin stage schedules three matches per day, each lasting 20 minutes. The first night saw the Mighty Marathas (featuring Mike Schloesser and Alejandra Valencia) thrash the Kakatiya Knights (including Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Elia Canales) six-nil with scores of 75-72, 74-72, and 77-74.
The Chola Chiefs (starring Deepika Kumari and Brady Ellison) beat Chero Archers (including Mathias Fullerton and Atanu Das) by five sets to one, and Rajputana Royals (Mete Gazoz, Ella Gibson) thumped Prithviraaj Yohdas (Andrea Becerra, Matias Grande) six-nil to finish the opening day.
