Rajputana Royals win first ever Archery Premier League title
The Rajputana Royals were victorious at the climax of the inaugural season of the Archery Premier League in New Delhi, India, on 12 October, defeating the Prithviraaj Yodhas 5-4 after a shoot-off.
The team of Ojas Pravin Deotale, Ella Gibson, Mete Gazoz, Ankita Bhakat, Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge, Swati Dudhwal, Sachin Gupta and Basanti Mahato had led the competition from the start, going undefeated for the first week and beginning finals day as the top seeds.
Deotale, Gibson, Gazoz and Bhakat contested the final.
“It’s an incredible feeling, and I think every time I haven’t been certain if I’m gonna hit it, but I’ve just tried to take my time and do my shot and it’s worked out that way,” said Gibson, whose consistent shooting across the competition was a key part of the Royals’ success, about her decisive shoot-off arrow.
With all teams in action every day for almost two weeks, the players achieved a high level of match fitness, contributing to an exceptionally high-quality final day of competition.
In an entertaining title match, the Yodhas, seeded third, edged the first set after an arrow by Gatha Anandrao Khadake was marked up. In the second, the Royals came roaring back, with both their recurves, Bhakat and Gazoz, delivering big 10s to level the score.
In the third, the Yodhas took a 4-2 lead with a perfect 80 points out of 80 – the first clean set of the entire competition.
In the fourth, the Yodhas looked in control, with Matias Grande needing only a nine to win it. But he shot an eight, and an upgraded arrow from the Royals tied the match.
The title would be decided by a shoot-off, using the Archery Premier League’s unique hit-or-miss format: a single yellow spot on red. (The compound spot measures 4cm across at 50 metres, and the recurve 6.1cm at 70 metres – the same sizes as the X-rings on standard 80cm and 122cm targets.)
Each of the four archers selected per team shot one arrow. Gibson and Deotale hit their spots for the Royals, while no other archer managed a hit – enough to seal the win, and a significant financial bonus for the champions.
There was much talk about 15-year-old Gatha Anandrao Khadake on the Yodhas team, who calmly produced some of the biggest and most crucial 10s of the competition to help her team reach the final.
Khadake, who qualified for Gwangju 2025 and placed 14th in the ranking round, has already been identified as one of the most promising young talents in Indian recurve.
In a sign of how seriously the competition is being taken in India, the Archery Premier League’s brand ambassador, Bollywood actor Ram Charan, presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a symbolic bow on the eve of the finals, as part of wider efforts to promote the sport in a nation of 1.4 billion people.
The Archery Premier League is partly inspired by the successful Indian Premier League cricket format. Fittingly, the first-ever IPL title in 2008 was won by a team called the Rajasthan Royals.
You can rewatch the finals and every day of the inaugural Archery Premier League with a subscription to archery+.
