Ace it with the axe

You can now wield a sharp blade and call it teamwork. We grapple with Hyderabad’s latest sport 

If Thor’s Stormbreaker was the closest you have been to an axe, things are about to change! Now, you can throw an axe and win a game at Hyderabad’s AxeThrowing India, an adventure outfit in the city. Launched five months ago, the initiative aims at encouraging adventure enthusiasts to unleash their competitive edge in the sport.

“With some precautions, axe throwing is a safe and a fun game,” says Radhika Lokanadam, founder, AxeThrowing India, of the game that requires players to throw an axe, on a bullseye. A former Wipro employee, Radhika was introduced to axe throwing when she visited Texas with her husband Sandeep Rayala, a software employee, in 2017. Although her axe did not stick to the wooden board the first time, she was fascinated with its popularity and players throwing with elan to win competitive matches and leagues. “These games were played professionally like a sport and even had an umpire to record the points,” she recalls.

Back in Hyderabad, the couple searched for such axe-throwing zones to play in India but when they found none, Radhika decided to launch her own brand and used the pandemic to contact World Axe Throwing League and research things needed to build an axe-throwing range.

With support from her husband, Radhika’s entrepreneurship dreams came true with the launch of AxeThrowing India at Ayyappa Society in Madhapur (around two kilometres from Cyber Towers) during Deepavali in 2022. “Setting this place up was a learning experience; we didn’t want to launch it in a club where alcohol is served. Our only intent is to popularise axe throwing as a game,” says Radhika, of her 1,800 square feet space that is divided into eight (6X21 feet) cubicles woven with closely knit iron grills. There is a 45x45 inches board made of poplar wood in the middle and wooden shavings on the ground (to prevent the axe from bouncing back when it falls down), and the distances to throw the axe are marked in yellow (18 feet), black (15 feet) and red lines (12 feet for beginners). Each wooden board costs around ₹5,000 and is changed every month, she says.

Radhika explains the axes have been custom-made in Khammam, Telangana, and come in two sizes — 600 and 1000 grams with a half-inch blade and handle. “Axe throwing is all about hand power and technique,” says Radhika, as she holds an axe right behind her head and throws it straight forward. “It is similar to a dart game; one needs to focus and keep wrist and elbow locked but ensure you are not throwing the axe with a lot of power because if your throw fails, the axe might bounce back when it falls due to the speed,” she adds.

Children in the age group of 12 and above are allowed, if accompanied by parents, explains Radhika. While shoes are mandatory for players, safety shoes are provided for those who walk in without them. Only one axe is given per cubicle, and the players have to first sign a consent form and can either throw 10 (₹300) or 20 (₹500) times in unlimited time and earn points depending on the place their axe wedges into on the target. “Although there is no time limit, friends in groups do not like to stand and watch; they would rather keep up the momentum of excitement by throwing continuously; The score also makes them competitive,” points out Radhika who hopes to organise Indian Axe Throwing League competition in October to coincide with the outfit’s first anniversary.

With more than 20 walk-ins every day, the zone has seen around 600 visitors in the last five months. “Employees have missed out on physical interaction due to two years of work-from-home. As they return to a hybrid model of working, this kind of indoor zones are ideal for team outings,” concludes Radhika, who plans on including gun shooting as a sport, starting a cafe, and also franchise the business.