By Rahul Banerji
Past Panasonic Open India winner Khalin Joshi and Women’s Indian Open joint runner-up Amandeep Drall led the Asian Games trials that got under way at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club on Tuesday.
Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma on the men’s side and Aditi Ashok in the women’s were exempted from the process, and the Indian Golf Union invited 50-odd golfers to try out for the remaining places.
In all, 38 – 19 each for the women’s and men’s trials – have turned up in Kolkata. The Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, China, later this year.
Bangalore’s Joshi opened with four birdies on the run and added a fifth to total a soli five-under-par 67 that contained seven birdies against two dropped shots.
He was followed by Ajeetesh Sandhu, whose four-under 68 included five birdies and a solitary bogey.
Rashid Khan, team silver medallist at the 2010 Asian Games as an amateur, two-time Indian Open champion Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia, Aman Raj, and Yuvraj Sandhu were on three-under 69.
Amateur Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Baisoya carded two-under 70s while Karandeep Kochhar, and Chikkarangappa S. were on 71 as 10 out of the 19 men went under par on the day.
Birdie run
Among the women Amandeep who swapped birdie for bogey in her first 11 holes picked up five shots in a row between holes 12 and 16 against one more bogey at the historic course for a four-under 68.
Drall was followed by Tokyo Olympian Diksha Dagar on a three-under 69 that included an eagle, two birdies and a bogey.
Tvesa Malik, Neha Tripathi, Pranavi Urs and Avani Prashanth were two-under 70 for tied third place.
Vani Kapoor was the other player in the women’s section to go sub-par with a 71.
One place in the men’s team and two on the women’s are at stake at the four-day trial for the Asiad golf event to be played between September 28 and October 1 in China.
The trials are being held as per a directive from the Sports Authority of India.
Day 1 top five scores
Women: 68 – Amandeep Drall; 69 – Diksha Dagar; 70 – Neha Tripathi, Tvesa Malik, Pranavi Urs, Avani Prashanth (A); 71 – Vani Kapoor; 73 – Sneha Singh, Vidhatri Urs (A), Janeeya A. Dassaniee (A), Khushi Khanijau, Seher Atwal.
Men: 67 – Khalin Joshi; 68 – Ajeetesh Sandhu; 69 – Rashid Khan, S.S.P. Chawrasia, Aman Raj, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu; 70 – Yuvraj Singh (A), Sachin Baisoya; 71 – Karandeep Kochhar, Chikkarangappa S.
The field
Women: Amandeep Drall, Avani Prashanth (A), Diksha Dagar, Gaurika Bishnoi, Hitaashee Bakshi, Janneya A. Dassaniee (A), Jasmine Shekhar, Khushi Khanijau, Mannat Brar (A), Neha Tripathi, Nishna Patel (A), Pranavi Urs, Puneet Kaur Bajwa (A), Ridhima Dilawari, Seher Atwal, Sneha Singh, Tvesa Malik, Vani Kapoor and Vidhatri Urs (A).
Men: Ajeetesh Sandhu, Aman Raj, Aryan Roopa Anand, Chikkarangappa S., Harimohan Singh (A), Honey Baisoya, Jaiveer (A), Karandeep Kochhar, Khalin Joshi, Rashid Khan, Sachin Baisoya, Sandeep Yadav (A), Shat Mishra (A), Shaurya Bhattacharya (A), S.S.P. Chawrasia, Veer Ahlawat, Viraj Madappa, Yuvraj Singh (A), and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu.
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