‘Astra Shastra’: India takes archery to ‘Level Next’ with dedicated Premier League event this October

New Delhi: The Archery Association of India (AAI) has announced the list of Indian athletes for the inaugural edition of the Archery Premier League.

The first-of-its-kind competition, a path-breaking global initiative, will bring together men and women recurve and compound archers from all around the world, to compete in an intense franchise-styled tournament.

In order to include the top elite players from around the world for the first edition, AAI has placed archers across various categories based on World Top 10 Rankings, World Top 20 Rankings, followed by archers ranked as per AAI’s recently-held selection trials.

Recurve archers who have represented India at the Olympics, Deepika Kumari (World No. 3), and Dhiraj Bommadevara (World No. 14) are in the fray.

World Record-holding pair of compound archers Rishabh Yadav (World No. 9) and Jyothi Surekha Vennam (World No. 3) have also confirmed their participation along with World No. 10 Abhishek Verma, World No. 11 Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge, World No. 16 Priyansh, and World No. 17 Parneet Kaur.

Based on a trial held by AAI recently, veteran Olympians Tarundeep Rai (Rank No. 4), and Atanu Das (Rank No. 5) will also be among the recurve participants, while women recurve archers include Ankita Bhakat (Rank No. 2) and Bhajan Kaur (Rank No. 6), who were part of India’s contingent at the Paris Olympics last year.

Other top recurve men archers include Neeraj Chauhan (Rank No. 2), Rahul (Rank No. 3), Rohit Kumar (Rank No. 6), Mrinal Chauhan (Rank No. 7), Sachin Gupta (Rank No. 8), and Krish Kumar (Rank No. 9), while other top women recurve archers include Gatha Anandrao Khadake (Rank No. 3), Sharvari Somnath Shende (Rank No. 4), Basanti Mahato (Rank No. 5), Kumkum Anil Mohod (Rank No.7), Tisha Punia (Rank No. 8), and Anshika Kumari (Rank No.9).

Meanwhile, compound men archers Aman Saini (Rank No. 1), Ojas Pravin Deotale (Rank No. 5), Sahil Rajesh Jadhav (Rank No. 6), Chittibomma Jignas (Rank No. 8), Pulkit Kajla (Rank No. 9) will be available, while compound women archers include Prithika Pradeep (Rank No. 3), Taniparthi Chikitha (Rank No. 4), Avneet Kaur (Rank No. 5), Madala Surya Hamsini (Rank No. 6), Swati Dudhwal (Rank No. 7), Madhura Dhamangaonkar (Rank No. 8), and Pranjal Rajendra Salve (Rank No. 9).

President of the Archery Association of India, Arjun Munda, said, “We are delighted to have the presence of India’s best archers in the first season of the Archery Premier League. 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 fans around the nation.”

“Indian archers have long been making their mark on the world stage. It is because of their success we are in a position to launch the first edition of Archery Premier League. We are excited to have them participate in this elite competition and make the tournament a must-watch for fans around the world,” Secretary General, Archery Association of India, Virendra Sachdeva, said.

Apart from the Indian players, the inaugural edition of the APL, which will take place over a 11-day period in October this year at the Yamuna Sports Complex, New Delhi, will also see participation from top-ranked international archers who will be divided among the six franchises.

The tournament offers a chance to athletes to gain exposure, with a unique team set-up never-seen-before in world archery.

With recurve and compound archers shooting 70m and 50m respectively together under lights, the league will boost the confidence of Indian archers and raise their performance level, supporting the nation’s Olympic movement.

The Archery Premier League has received encouragement from World Archery, World Archery Asia and the Sports Ministry of India.