Spotlight on India's Asiad stars, Olympic medallists as Archery Premier League returns
CHENNAI: Building on her learning experiences from the inaugural season, Telangana archer Chikitha Taniparthi - fresh from her gold medal-winning exploits at the Asian Games - is relishing the prospect of shooting in her home soil as the second season of Archery Premier League - world's only franchise-based league for archery - gets underway from Thursday in Hyderabad. The return of APL, after a successful first season in New Delhi, coincides with India's sensational performance in Aichi-Nagoya that saw the country's archery contingent emerge as the best in the field, ahead of powerhouses South Korea.
Now, the country's star archers will take center stage from October 8 to 18 at People's Plaza on Hyderabad's Necklace Road. This time, the medal-winning archers will be involved in a completely different setting - shooting against their own national teammates in some cases, and with a quicker shooting deadline, with each arrow allotted an average of just 15 seconds in a thrilling format.
The APL will also witness recurve and compound archers going up against each other, another novelty that makes this franchise league stand out from regular World Archery events on the international circuit. The league also unveiled an anthem and mascot as part of the proceedings on Wednesday.
Taniparthi, who hails from Peddapalli, said she learned from watching the top archers in APL's first season and that helped her refine her game. "During the first season of APL, playing for the Chola Chiefs, I learnt a lot about managing pressure under the faster shot clock of 15 seconds per arrow as well as learning techniques from my teammates while watching them train.
It helped a lot in me getting better as an archer, and played a part in winning gold medal at the Asian Games," she said at the launch event of APL Season 2 in the city on Wednesday. With the tournament taking place in her neck of the woods, she hoped to see youngsters turn up to watch the stars in action.
"I hope young girls come to watch us during this tournament, and that this tournament can help them pick up archery." APL Director & Chairman Anil Kamineni said that the interest in league has only gone up since the first edition this time last year. "There is more and more interest from archers around the world, and we are hoping to increase the number of teams as well as go to new locations in the seasons to come," he said.
He also hoped that India's rich bow-and-arrow mythology would shine in an iconic city like Hyderabad. "Each region has the kings and emperors, etc.
So that's when we said, it's not only going to be sport; it is going to be showcasing the heritage and culture of our country."
Archery Association of India's Treasurer & APL Director Dr.
Joris Paulose Ummacheril was also present at the launch event.