Archery Premier League 2026: Teams, League format, rules all explained

HYDERABAD: Archery Premier League returns for a second edition, and it is only getting bigger and better, featuring India’s Asian Games medalists, veteran stars and some of the biggest names in the sport. The second edition will run till October 18, in Hyderabad. 

So what will be different in the Archery Premier League compared to what we usually see at events like Asian Games and World Cups? Here's an explainer of the APL rules, including the thrilling 15-second shot clock and hit-or-miss shootoff.

What’s unique about APL?

One unique aspect of APL is that the recurve and compound archers compete together in one mixed team format. In the international circuit, there are gender-specific team events in compound and recurve, and the mixed team event in each discipline. But the world's best recurve and compound archers shoot side-by-side in the APL.

And the most exciting difference? The 15-second thrill. Each archer gets roughly only 15 seconds to shoot their arrows. Another hugely thrilling addition is the hit-or-miss shootout when matches are tied.

The distances and target faces remain the same as in international events: for recurve archers, the target face is at 70m and 122cm in diameter. For compound archers, the target is 50m away and 80 cm in diameter.

How are the APL 2026 teams shaped up?

Each of the six franchises has an eight-member squad comprising four men and four women (six of them Indian archers and two foreign stars). The eight archers are equally divided by the bow type: two recurve males, two recurve females, two compound males and two compound female archers. 

Six franchises – Mighty Marathas, Rajputana Royals, Prithviraaj Yodhas, Kakatiya Knights, Chero Archers and Chola Chiefs — with a total of 36 Indian and 12 international archers. Chiefs are the team based out of Tamil Nadu, featuring Asian Games medalist Taniparthi Chikitha, and the legendary, Deepika Kumari

What’s the league format?

The six teams will compete in a double round-robin format, with every team facing the other five franchises twice. Each team plays 10 league matches, resulting in 30 matches during the league stage. At the conclusion of the league phase, the top four teams advance to the semi-finals, with the winners progressing to the final. There will be three matches each evening. 

For each match won in the Round Robin stage, the winning team shall get 2 points & the losing team shall get 0 points in the overall points table. In case of a tie between for any position, Set point difference (Total set points earned minus Total set points lost) and then head-to-head, and finally average arrow score will come into play.

How does a match play out?

Each team fields four archers at the start of a match —one male and one female in both recurve and compound. There must at least be one foreign archer in the lineup at all times. The toss will decide either who shoots first or which targets a team wants to shoot from. 

Each archer from a team shoots two arrows in one set within the allotted time of 120 seconds: here's where the 15-second internal clock must kick in. Eight arrows, 120 seconds. One archer from each team goes one after another.

The team with the higher combined score wins the set and earns 2 points, which is similar to what we see in recurve archery globally. If both teams score equally out of 80 points in one set, each earns 1 point. A losing team receives 0 points.

Once a team reaches 5 or more set points, that team is declared the winner. If, after a maximum of four sets of shooting, the score reaches 4–4, the match is decided by the APL Hit-or-Miss Shoot-Off.

The timings elsewhere:

Standard World Archery Team Event: 120 seconds total for 6 arrows (20s/arrow average).

World Archery Mixed Team Event: 80 seconds total for 4 arrows (20s/arrow average).

Archery Premier League (APL): 120 seconds for 8 arrows across a 4-person mixed squad (averaging 15 seconds per arrow).

So, how does it exactly work?

Eight arrows in one set and 120 seconds for each team translates roughly to 15 seconds. But how does it work exactly? 

Teams have to shoot alternately between themselves until all 8 Archers of both teams have shot 16 arrows (8 arrows/team); After a Team shoots, the next arrow will be shot by the other Team, followed by the first Team and so on. 

When the first team’s clock starts counting down from 120 seconds, an archer from that team enters the shooting area, crosses the 1-meter line, and shoots his/her arrow. After shooting, the archer returns behind the 1-meter line, and at that instance the team's clock is stopped. Immediately after the first archer of the first team finishes and returns to the 1m line, the second team's clock starts. An archer from the second team enters the shooting line, crosses the 1-meter line, and shoots his/her arrow. 

The time given for a team to shoot their 8 Arrows per set shall be 120 seconds and total time for a set shall be 240 seconds

Can changes be made?

While four archers line up at the start of a match, a team can make a total of two changes within a match to use the depth in their squad. But once an archer is subbed out, they cannot reenter the lineup. And reminder: one foreign archer must always be in the lineup.

If a match reaches 4–4, it moves to a shoot-off involving four archers from each team. This is where all the thrill is.

In international events, the shootoffs are just an extension of the regular sets. Archers shoot, and the better-scoring team wins. If both teams are tied, the arrow closest to the center wins.

In APL, the shootoff targets, however, will look different this time. There won't be rings to decide how much each archer scores. The target face will only have the yellow inner ring and the rest of it will be red. An arrow in the yellow spot is a HIT. An arrow in the red spot is a MISS.

How small are the targets? It's the X-ring that the archers will need to hit. The compound spot measures 4cm across at 50 metres distance, and the recurve 8cm at 70 metres – the same sizes as the X-rings on standard 80cm and 122cm targets.

Each archer shoots one arrow, aiming to hit the designated yellow spot. The team with more hits wins the match. It's the ultimate adrenaline rush to decide a tied match.

There’s sudden death as well

After the regular shoot-off, if the teams are still tied, the match will go to sudden death, where one archer from each team, chosen by both teams, takes a further shot each. If one team hits and the other team misses, the match shall be over. 

If both teams hit the target or miss the target, they will go to a second sudden-death round, where the teams shall choose from the remaining 3 archers. This will continue until a winner is decided.