Sydney: India’s top archers, including Deepika Kumari, Dhiraj Bommadevara, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma, will compete in the inaugural Archery Premier League (APL), the national federation said on Monday.
The six franchise-based competition, billed as a first-of-its-kind global initiative, will bring together leading recurve and compound archers from across the world for an 11-day event in October at the Yamuna Sports Complex, here.
Apart from the Indian archers, the inaugural APL, which has got the backing from World Archery and the Asian federation, will also see participation from the top-ranked international archers, who will be divided among the six franchises but their names are yet to be announced.
The inaugural season is likely to follow a draft system instead of an auction, with each squad comprising eight members -- four men and four women. Teams can include up to two foreign archers, with at least one of them required to be part of the playing four.
The recurve and compound archers will shoot 70m and 50m respectively in a unique team format under floodlights.
The Indian archers were picked based on world rankings as well as Archery Association of India’s recent
selection trials.
In recurve, world No. 3 Deepika and world No. 14 Dhiraj headline the field, alongside veterans Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das. agencies