Vedika wins Pinehurst USKG title as Aida finishes third

Bangalore’s Vedika Bhansali celebrates victory in the Girls 9 event of the US Kids World Championship at Pinehurst. Image courtesy USKG India.

By Rahul Banerji

Vedika Bhansali of Bangalore won the Girls 9 category of the US Kids World Championship at Pinehurst Village with her best nine-hole scre of the week.

Vedika’s bogey-free 4 under par 32 saw her total 10 under 98 and finish ahead of Japan’s Emi Minami by one shot and American Audrey Zhang by two.

Vedika (33-33-32), who was fourth a year ago, had just one bogey in three rounds, USKG India said.

Besides Vedika picking up gold, fellow Bangalore player Aida Thimmaiah (75-68-66) was third in the Girls 11 category. 

Aida’s shot a brilliant 6 under 66 in her final round to total 7 under behind runaway winner was Bella Simoes (66-62-67) of the US at 21-under while Ananya Venkataraghavan (70-69-67), granddaughter of former India cricketer S, Venkataraghavan, was second on 10 under. 

Ananya is now based in the United States and represents America.

Two other Indians finished in the Top-8. 

Last year’s medallist, Chandigarh’s Nihal Cheema tied for fourth in the Boys 8 category with cards of 38-39-35. 

And in the Boys 10, Noida’s Kabir Goyal, coached by former Asian Games medallist Rahul Bajaj shot 72-70-68 to take eighth place.

Indian results

Boys 8: Nihal Cheema (Chandigarh) (38-39-35), T4

Boys 10: Kabir Goyal (Noida) (72-70-68), 8th

Boys 11: Sohraab Singh Talwar (Mohali)  (76-74-75), T42

Boys 12: Adit Veeramachaneni (Bangalore) (73-79-71), T41, Hridaan Saraogi (Jaipur) (79-79-72), T89, Siddhant Sharma (Faridabad) (78-78-75), T97.

Girls 8: Pramati Veera (Bangalore) (37-36-41), T21, Naaysha S. Sinha (Noida) (38-39-39), T25

Girls 9: Vedika Bhansali (Bangalore) (33-33-32), winner, Ahana Shah (Mumbai) (41-42-34), T42, Suhani Chandra (Gurgaon) (43-42-41), T78, Aahana Shrivastava (Gurgaon) (44-41-42), T82

Girls 11: Aida Thimmaiah (Bangalore) (75-68-66), 3rd

Girls 12: Ojaswini Saraswat (Mohali) (70-68-76), T18