The Rajputana Royals vs. Prithviraaj Yodhas final was an intense race, and the first Archery Premier League (APL) left its best for last. As the first-ever APL champions, the Royals pulled off a spectacular comeback and won the championship in a nail-biting shootout.

Ojas Deotale and Ella Gibson, the two most reliable Royals compound archers, struck the target in the tiebreaking shootoff in front of Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, but none of the four Yodhas players succeeded in hitting the yellow dot. It was a hit-and-miss contest.

Not only did the Yodhas put up a strong fight against the Royals, but they also became the first APL team to complete a set with a perfect rotation of eight arrows, scoring a perfect 80 with all ten. Their in-form senior compound archer, Abhishek Verma, who paired up with Matias Grande, Gatha Khadake, and Andrea Becerra, led them to a 4-2 advantage, but it was still insufficient.

With just one loss in 12 games, the Royals won the title because to the efforts of recurvers Mete Gazoz and Ankita Bhakat, who teamed up with Gibson and Deotale.

The drama started in the first set itself, which ended with one of Khadake’s arrow getting upgraded by the judges to give the Yodhas a 78-77 win in the first set. However, the Royals roared back in the next with a 78-75 margin to square the final at 2-2.

The third set saw the Yodhas’ archers scripting history by scoring 10s on all eight arrows to win it with an unprecedented scoreline of 80-77.

At the end of the fourth set, when Grande needed a 9 to give the Yodhas the title, the match went to a close call. However, he hit an 8 and the Royals won the set 78-77, making it 4-4, with a shootout to determine the winner. Deotale and Gibson completed the task by striking the shootoff target twice.

The Royals defeated the Chero Archers 5-1 earlier in the day in the first semi-final, dropping just six points in three sets (78-78, 79-77, 77-75). Led by their compound archers Deotale and Ella Gibson, who were once again in outstanding 10-hitting form, the league-stage winners maintained their strong run of success.

After a first set that ended in a tie, the Royals stepped up their game to take the following two and won the match outright. Tokyo Olympics gold medallist recurver Mete Gazoz secured the victory with a 10 off the final arrow.

The judges remeasured the match in the fourth set after a thrilling second semifinal matchup between the Yodhas and the Mighty Marathas, allowing the Yodhas to advance to the finals against the Royals with a 5-3 victory.

Compound archer Mike Schloesser had another ideal day for the Marathas, and the match swung like a pendulum. Even though they won the second set and were able to tie the match at 2-2, it wasn’t enough.

The Yodhas won the first set 78-74, but the Marathas came back to take the second set 79-76. Compound man Verma led from the front with flawless 10s as the Yodhas won the third set 78-74 to reclaim their two-point lead at 4-2.

The Marathas looked to have won the fourth set by a point at the conclusion, forcing a shootout in the semi-final. However, the judges’ remeasure improved Yodhas’ arrow, making it 78-78, which was sufficient for the Yodhas to win 5-3.

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With the launch of the Archery Premier League (APL), the first professional league in archery in the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Telugu actor Ram Charan’s contribution to the sport’s popularity and said it will help “countless youngsters.”

The APL’s brand ambassador, Ram Charan, met with the prime minister on Saturday in New Delhi with his father-in-law, Anil Kamineni, and wife, Upasana Konidela.

“I’m glad to have met Anil Kamineni Garu and Upasana. “Your combined efforts to promote archery are admirable and will help a lot of young people,” PM Modi wrote on X.

Ram Charan used social media to express his emotions following his meeting with the prime minister.

It was an honor to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the triumph of the first Archery Premier League in history, which was headed by Anil Kamineni Garu. This is our little attempt to uphold archery’s heritage and spread its popularity over the globe.

In his social media message on Saturday, he congratulated all of the athletes and expressed the hope that many more would take up this amazing sport.