Archery Premier League: A new franchise league in India looking to revolutionise ancient sport

India’s top archers, including Deepika Kumari, Dhiraj Bommadevara, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma, will compete in the inaugural Archery Premier League (APL), the national federation said on Monday.

As reported by PTI earlier, the six franchise-based competition, billed as a first-of-its-kind global initiative, will bring together leading recurve and compound archers from across the world for an 11-day event in October at the Yamuna Sports Complex in New Delhi.

Archery Premier League format

Apart from the Indian archers, the inaugural APL, which has got the backing from World Archery and the Asian federation, will also see participation from the top-ranked international archers, who will be divided among the six franchises, but their names are yet to be announced.

The inaugural season is likely to follow a draft system instead of an auction, with each squad comprising eight members—four men and four women. Teams can include up to two foreign archers, with at least one of them required to be part of the playing four.

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The recurve and compound archers will shoot 70m and 50m, respectively, in a unique team format under floodlights.

The Indian archers were picked based on world rankings as well as Archery Association of India’s (AAI) recent selection trials

India players in Archery Premier League

In recurve, world No. 3 Deepika and world No. 14 Dhiraj headline the field, alongside veterans Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das.

Other women recurve archers include Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur, while the men’s line-up features Neeraj Chauhan, Rahul, Rohit Kumar, Mrinal Chauhan, Sachin Gupta and Krish Kumar.

In compound, world record-holder Jyothi Surekha (No. 3) and world No. 9 Rishabh Yadav lead the charge.

They are joined by veteran Abhishek (No. 10), Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge (No. 11), Priyansh (No. 16) and Parneet Kaur (No. 17).

Among others, Aman Saini, Ojas Deotale, Sahil Rajesh Jadhav and Chittibomma Jignas will represent the men, while Prithika Pradeep, Avneet Kaur and Madhura Dhamangaonkar are part of the women’s field.

“We are delighted to have the presence of India’s best archers in the first season of the Archery Premier League,” AAI president Arjun Munda stated in a release.

“We are confident their presence will drive eyeballs to the sport and ensure a high level of competition. It will further make the league an exciting venture for the fans around the nation.”