The title would be decided by a shoot-off, with the unique APL hit-or-miss format: a single spot target, yellow on red. (The compound target spot is 4cm across at 50m, and the recurve target 6.1cm at 70m.)
Each archer of the four selected for the match on each team shot one arrow. Gibson and Deotale hit their spot for the Royals, with no other archer managing to get a hit on target. It was enough for the win – and a large financial bonus for the champions.
There was much talk about Gatha Anandrao Khadake on the Yodhas team, with the 15-year-old calmly pulling off some of the biggest and most crucial tens of the competition to put her team in the final.
Khadake, who qualified for Gwangju 2025 and placed 14th in the qualifying round, has been talked about as a future star of Indian recurve, and produced one of the most memorable performances of the week.
In a sign of how seriously the competition was taken in India, the ‘brand ambassador’, Bollywood actor Ram Charan presented the Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a symbolic bow yesterday as part of the wider effort to promote the sport, in a country with a population of 1.4 billion.
You can rewatch the finals and every day of competition of the inaugural Archery Premier League with a subscription to archery+.
