New Delhi [India], October 5 : USA's world No. 1 recurve archer Brady Ellison's first visit to India is turning out to be a memorable one for him both professionally and personally. Here in the national capital for the inaugural Archery Premier League (APL), Ellison is floored by the welcome and the adulation he has been receiving while leading the Chola Chiefs franchise.
The six-team APL kicked off on the day of Dussehra, October 2, and will run till October 12. In their three matches so far, the Chiefs have won twice with Ellison in fine shooting form, leading from the front, as per a press release from the Archery Association of India (AAI).
"It is really nice. I am still struggling like crazy with jet lag. We have been practising more, and then I have kind of been taking a nap in the middle of the day," said Ellison, who has been overwhelmed by the attention whenever he steps up to shoot.
"I have got a big fan base here. I can feel it in the crowd, and I can feel it with the people taking pictures, asking for autographs and stuff," said the archer.
Ellison is the only male archer to have won the Archery World Cup final six times, besides being a veteran of five Olympics in which he has won five medals, including an individual silver in the Paris Games and an individual bronze in Rio.
A three-time champion in field archery as well, Ellison is loving the unique challenges that the APL is throwing at the archers in the league, which includes Indian veterans like Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai, Abhishek Verma and promising youngsters like Ojas Deotale, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Dhiraj Bommadevara.
"My first reaction was, it (APL) was going to be different, and I did not know how it was going to work," said Ellison, who began as a compound archer but shifted to recurve in 2005.
The league is played in a format that involves both recurve and compound archers in the squad of eight players per team. Ellison said it augurs well for the sport, especially because compound will make its debut at the LA 2028 Olympics in the mixed team event.
"I think that it's going to really help everything in a way (because) compound is the next evolution of archery, and I think that it deserves a space. I would like to see the compound grow in the Olympics, and I would also like recurve to remain," said the 36-year-old American.
Talking about the APL, Ellison finds the time limit to be the most challenging aspect that will take time for the archers to get used to.
For every set played, the team has 120 seconds to shoot eight arrows (two arrows per archer).
"Almost every team, a lot of ends, players are shooting on the buzzer, hurrying to the lines, making mistakes that you normally don't see us make. It is a hard-timed format," Ellison analysed.
"When I read the rules, I thought there might be a mistake. 120 seconds for 8 arrows; I was like, probably it's a typo, and I was sure when we get here it will be different," he added with a smile.
"But I think it is brilliant. Almost every one of us is huffing on the fly to learn how to shoot a lot quicker than we normally would. Rotations have to be quicker. Everything about this is fast, and it is amazing. It will be interesting to see if teams break down with frustration as the week progresses. I do believe that there's going to be some adjustments made during the week to try to make sure that you score off all 8 of your arrows," the archer continued.
Ellison concluded by sharing his experience in India in the first week of his visit.
"I am impressed with this country because it is one of the most receiving and giving countries I have been to. Everyone here has been very kind, asking if you need anything, just bringing you things. It's a very giving culture, it seems, and it is very different to what I expected or honestly anywhere else that I have been to," he said.