Hyderabad, Oct 12 (IANS) Despite playing catch-up for most of the match, Mighty Marathas came from behind and scripted a thrilling shootoff win against in-form Chero Archers in Season 2 of the Archery Premier League (APL) in Hyderabad on Monday.

Aman Saini and Dhiraj Bommadevara nailed their arrows into the yellow ring in APL’s signature hit-or-miss shootoff. For Chero, compound World No. 1 Mathias Fullerton scored a hit in the shootoff, but the other three archers registered misses as Marathas won 2-1 in the tiebreaker after a 4-4 draw in regulation time.

Chero, who have now lost two matches in tiebreakers this season, actually started the match strongly to take the first set. But in what turned out to be a really high-quality display of archery, the second and third sets were split between the two sides.

Another high-scoring fourth set went down to the wire, but after a few nervous seconds to check the final scores of a couple of close arrows, it went the Marathas way and the match headed into the shootoff.

Mighty Marathas, after starting the season with a couple of defeats, have now made it three wins in a row to go level with Chero on six points.

For Chero, Yashdeep Bhoge was nominated in place of the in-form Atanu Das, and he shot two very fine arrows in the first set to help his side take a 2-0 lead against Mighty Marathas.

The second set came down to the teams' recurve stars Dhiraj Bommadevara and Asian Games double gold medallist Kumkum Mohod, who both shot 9s with time winding down. In the third set, it was Kumkum’s turn to come up with a sensational 10 into the centre of the target face to tie the scores.

The fourth set saw both Bommadevara and Kumkum finish with 10s, but Aman Saini’s first arrow was upgraded from 9 to 10, and it gave the set points to the Marathas. Saini, in fact, finished the match with 60 out of 60 and then added the shootoff hit to his name as well.

"It's easy for me," Saini joked after the match when asked about the high-scoring night for him. "There is a process behind all this, a lot of hard work. It gives a lot of joy when results pay off for the team.”

Tuesday will mark the start of the second half of the league phase as things heat up in the race for semifinals.

In the first match, in-form Chero Archers take on defending champions Rajputana Royals in what could potentially be a high-quality contest. Prithviraaj Yodhas and Mighty Marathas will look to consolidate their position in the standings in the second match.

The action will conclude with the Southern Derby when Kakatiya Knights go up against Chola Chiefs.

--IANS

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