Mighty Marathas beat Kakatiya Knights 6-2 to win Archery Premier League Season 2

Mighty Marathas defeated Kakatiya Knights 6-2 to win the Archery Premier League (APL) Season 2 final at People’s Plaza in Hyderabad on Sunday. The victory was sealed by Dhiraj Bommadevara, who finished the match with an arrow into the inner X-ring.

Marathas had lost to Knights in the first qualifier earlier in the day but recovered to beat Prithviraj Yodhas in the second qualifier and carried that momentum into the final. Marathas’ aggressive approach paid dividends in the decisive match at People’s Plaza.

In the final Dhiraj shot 79 out of 80 and Mike Schloesser scored 80 out of the possible 80. Their scores underpinned Marathas’ overall performance across the four sets.

After Knights and Marathas split the first set, Dhiraj shot two inner-10s to put his team in the lead. Neeraj Chauhan and Dhiraj stepped up in the third set, where points were shared again.

With Knights under pressure to bag the final set and force a shootoff, all four of Nico Wiener, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Elia Canales and Neeraj could only shoot 9s. Marathas scored 79 to seal the contest.

“Believing in each other, keeping patience, and attack attack attack,” Dhiraj said. “To be honest, the truth is that we changed nothing after losing (to Knights in the qualifier). That is the beauty of this team.”

The scores: Final: Mighty Marathas bt Kakatiya Knights 6-2 (75-75, 77-76, 75-75, 79-73). Qualifier 1: Knights tied with Marathas 4-4 (75-73, 75-76, 76-77, 77-76) (Knights won 2-0 in the shootoff). Qualifier 2: Marathas bt Prithviraj Yodhas 5-3 (74-78, 76-76, 77-72, 78-76).