BRADY ELLISON, USA’s world No. 1 recurve archer, is making the most of his first trip to India — both professionally and personally. The American star, currently in New Delhi for the inaugural Archery Premier League (APL), has been overwhelmed by the warmth and admiration he’s received while leading the Chola Chiefs franchise. The six-team tournament began on 2 October and runs until 12 October.
Ellison, the only male archer to have won the Archery World Cup final six times, is also a five-time Olympian with five medals to his name, including an individual silver at the Paris Games and a bronze in Rio. A three-time field archery world champion, he’s relishing the APL’s fresh and fast-paced format, which features Indian stalwarts such as Deepika Kumari, Atanu Das, Tarundeep Rai, and Abhishek Verma, alongside rising stars like Ojas Deotale, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, and Dhiraj Bommadevara.
Each APL team consists of eight players, combining recurve and compound archers, a blend Ellison believes will greatly benefit the sport, especially with compound archery set to debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics in the mixed team event.
Ellison said, “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. My first reaction was, it (APL) was going to be different and I didn’t know how it was going to work. 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.”
For Ellison, the time-restricted format has been the biggest challenge so far. Each team gets 120 seconds to shoot eight arrows (two per archer) in a set, a rule he initially thought was an error.
He adds, “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. 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’ll be different,” he added with a smile. But I think it’s 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’s an amazing. It’ll be interesting as the week goes on to see if teams break down with frustration. 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.”
Reflecting on his time in India so far, Ellison expressed, “I’m impressed with this country because it’s one of the most receiving and giving countries I’ve been to. Everyone here has been very kind, asking if you need anything, just bringing you things. It’s a very giving culture it seem, and it’s very different to what I expected or honestly anywhere else that I’ve been to.”
