Archery Premier League from October 2

The inaugural Archery Premier League kicks off from October 2 in New Delhi, featuring 50 archers from six franchises, with top international players, including Olympians and World Championship medalists

Hyderabad: About 50 archers from across India have been divided into six franchises as the Archery Association of India formally launched the inaugural Archery Premier League from October 2 to 12 at the Yamuna Sports Complex in New Delhi.

The league features 36 archers and 12 foreigners, and the franchises are Prithviraj Yodhas (New Delhi), Mighty Marathas (Maharashtra), Kakatiya Knights (Telangana), Rajputana Royals (Rajasthan), Chero Archers (Jharkhand), and Chola Chiefs (Tamil Nadu).

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The athletes were drafted across eight rounds, comprising three compound and three recurve archers each. To maintain fairness, the sequence of picking an athlete by a franchise was decided by a random draw across all eight rounds.

Kakatiya Knights (Telangana) team bolstered its squad with world-record holder Jyothi Surekha, who was also part of the compound mixed team that won the silver in the recent World Archery Championships, and Olympian Elia Canales, who made a name in 2018 with a silver medal at the Youth Olympic Games, and was part of the recurve mixed team that won the gold medal at the 2025 World Archery Championships in Gwangju.

Recurve Men: Neeraj Chauhan (AAI Rank 2), Rohit Kumar (AAI Rank 6).

Recurve Women: Elia Canales (World No. 10), Tisha Punia (AAI Rank 8).

Compound Men: Nico Wiener (World No. 3), Jignas (AAI Rank 8).

Compound Women: Jyothi Surekha (World No. 3), Avneet Kaur (AAI Rank 5).

Anil Kamenini, Director of the Archery Premier League, said that with support from World Archery, they were able to bring the world’s top archers to compete alongside our top archers in India.

“The league will have a spectacular opening on Dussehra Day, October 2, with film star Ram Charan as Brand Ambassador at Ram Leela Grounds in Delhi and will be a great way to showcase and increase the sport’s popularity,” he said.

President, Archery Association of India, Ashok Munda said they were confident Indian archers would gain tremendous exposure through the league, which will prepare them for future events. “In 2023 and 2024, India finished in second position in World Rankings, and now our goal is to move towards the first position,” he said.

Secretary General, Archery Association of India, Virendra Sachdeva said they were emotionally attached to the sport, as it is associated with India’s historical and cultural roots. “It took us many years to fulfill our vision for the league, and we hope now that the league propels us to greater achievements, including Olympic medals,” he said.