Hyderabad, Oct 18 Mighty Marathas were on Sunday crowned champions of Archery Premier League Season 2 after defeating Kakatiya Knights in the grand final here.
The Marathas bounced back from a defeat against the same opponents in the first qualifier earlier in the day.
Led by a sensational performance by their recurve star Dhiraj Bommadevara, who finished the final by sending an arrow into the inner X-ring, the Marathas beat the Knights 6-2.
While Dhiraj shot an unbelievable 79 out of 80 in the title clash, leading the way for Marathas was ‘Mr. Perfect’ Mike Schloesser, who lived up to his nickname and finished with 80 out of the possible 80.
The Knights entered the final riding on a win over Marathas on Saturday in the last league match. They then beat the same opponents in the first qualifier.
After losing to the Knights, the Marathas defeated Prithviraaj Yodhas in the second eliminator to earn their place in the grand final.
“Believing in each other, keeping patience, and attack-attack-attack,” Dhiraj said, when asked about the mantra behind the Marathas’ turnaround.
“To be honest, the truth is that we changed nothing after losing the first match (qualifier against Knights), and that I think is the beauty of this team.”
Fittingly, Dhiraj was crowned the male recurve archer of the day as well as of the entire tournament.
The Marathas were also rewarded for smart substitutions during the day’s play, ensuring they used their bench strength to good effect.
Despite shooting pretty well in the first match, Aman Saini was replaced by the Dutch superstar Schloesser before the second eliminator and he went on to score 79 in that match, followed by the perfect 80 in the final.
Another tactical move was to replace the experienced international star Alejandra Valencia with Simranjeet Kaur in the middle of the second match, and the Indian came through under pressure situations for the Marathas.
The final between the Knights and Marathas started with a split set of 75-75 as Neeraj Chauhan’s 8 with the final arrow proved costly while Dhiraj hit a 10.
The second set was even more thrilling as Dhiraj shot two inner-10s. Both Neeraj and Dhiraj stepped up in the third set, but the Marathas were able to tie another set to stay ahead, despite a couple of low scores from the recurve archers.
The Knights had to win the final set to force a shoot-off, but the pressure was felt on their initial arrows as all four archers — Nico Wiener, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Elia Canales and Neeraj — shot 9s.
From there, it was an uphill task, while the Marathas scored a breathtaking 79 to close it out in style.
(PTI News)
