By Rahul Banerji
Chaitanya Pandey was among the five players to complete back-to-back wins at the 2021 US Kids Golf India North Tour at the ITC Classic Golf and Country Club earlier this week.
Playing in the Under-10 group, Chaitanya, came through a play-off in the first event on Thursday to win by three shots over the Dubai-based Siddhaan Chibber.
The others competing a second time in the double-header in the US Kids Golf North Tour were Samar Baijal (Boys U-7), Shambhavi Chaturvedi (Girls 9-10), Parnika Sharma (Girls 11-12) and Mahreen Bhatia (Girls 13-14).
The youngest winner on Friday was Nalinaksh in the Boys Under 6 with a 7-over 43 in his nine holes at the ITC Classic Golf and Country Club.
Another popular winner was Prince Bainsla in the Boys Under-11 received a big ovation when he went up to get his winner’s gold medal after scoring 3-over 75 to beat Armin Paul Singh by three shots.
In the first event Armin won by one shot over Prince.
Comeback win
In the Girls Under-8s, Aanya Dandriyal, who was third on Thursday, turned the tables and beat Annika Chendira by one shot over nine holes.
Arshvant Srivastava looked set for a winning double, as he led by two shots with two holes to go in his tussle with Bhawesh Nirwan.
A double bogey after going into the bunker on 17 and a closing bogey on 18 meant he dropped from 1-under to 2-over and lost by one shot to Bhawesh, who compensated for being third in the first event.
Tournament director Amit Dube, a former India international and now a coach, was elated at the response and performance.
“Some of these youngsters have amazing potential and we want to give them the best platform and best playing opportunities.”
Rajesh Srivastava, President, US Kids Golf India, added, “The first two events after a gap of 20 months were an enormous success.
“The young golfers, as also their enthusiastic parents, were fantastic and they made this so much fun and we saw such awesome talent at the world-class ITC Classic Golf and Country Club.
Bigger plans
“We will be soon announcing some plans on how to give these children more opportunities in competition and coaching because we strongly believe that India has huge potential, and these kids are a perfect example.”
The top finishers will get Priority points based on their finish and scores and that in turn will help them get entries into world level international events like the US Kids World Championships at Pinehurst in the US and the US Kids Europe competition.
The three youngest divisions – Boys Under 6, Boys Under 7 and Girls Under 8 were contested over nine holes.
The next set of events in the eight-leg US Kids Golf India North Tour will be held on December 9 and 10 at the IT Classic Golf and Resort Club, who are becoming partners with US Kids Golf India and have big plans for promising golfers.
Friday’s results
Boys Under-6: Nalinaksh
Boys U-7: Samar Baijal
Boys U-9: Vedant Paul
Boys U-10: Chaitanya Pandey
Boys U-11: Prince Bainsla
Boys U-12: Bhawesh Nirwan
Boys 13-14: Vedant Banerjee Sodhi
Boys 15-18: Siddharth Kaul
Girls Under-8: Aanya Dandriyal
Girls 9-10: Shambhavi Chaturvedi
Girls 11-12: Parnika Sharma
Girls 13-14: Mahreen Bhatia
Also read: Thirty-two qualify for US Kids Golf Europe events
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