Some winners at the 2025 US Kids Indian Championship (from left) Nihal Cheema, Naaysha Sinha, Drona Singh Dhull, Aanya Dandriyal and Prince Bainsla. Image courtesy USKGI.
By Rahul Banerji
Nihal Cheema, Drona Singh Dhull, Prince Bainsla, Naaysha S. Sinha, Gairat Kaur Kahlon and Shiksha Jain stood out in the fifth edition of the US Kids Golf Indian Championship that concluded at the Classic Golf and Country Club on Friday.
Despite difficult weather conditions and smog, NCR golfers made a clean sweep of titles on offer with solid displays in challenging conditions.
The final round for all sections was reduced to nine holes by the Tournament Committee as there was insufficient daylight on account of a delayed start.
Nihal Cheema in the Boys 8 was the only player to shoot par or better on all three days as he emerged a runaway winner over closest rival Zowra Sikand.
Chandigarh lad Cheema had cards of 36-34-33 in his 9-hole rounds. On the final day he was bogey free with three birdies.
Another fine performer was Haryana golfer, Drona Singh Dhull, who birdied four of the nine holes in the Boys 11 category.
He shot the best round of the day at 4 under 32 for nine holes with four birdies and no bogeys.
Bainsla, who had the best round of the week with a 6 under 66 on the first day won the Boys 15-18 ahead of Shashank Sachin Gadre, who parred on all three days. Arshvant Srivastava was third.
Standout performers
The standout players in the girls’ events included Aanya Dandriyal (11-12 yrs) and Preitisha Kaur Gill in (15-18 yrs) .
Aanyaand Malaysia’s Choi Quinn Cie were involved in a close battle with totals of 196 for 45 holes before the former won the tie-breaker after an eagle and a birdie against four bogeys in regulation.
Other outstanding performers of the week were Naaysha S. Sinha in Girls 8, Gairat Kaur Kahlon in Girls 9-10 and Shiksha Jain in Girls 13-14.
In the boys events, Taanush Kumar in Boys 9, Vedaansh Jain in Boys 10, Siddhant Sharma in Boys 12 and Arihaan Beri in Boys 13-14 caught the eye.
For the first time, finishers up to fifth place received cash prizes. Winners received Rs. 25,000, while the second and third places received Rs. 10,000 each and the next three places were rewarded with Rs. 5,000 each.
Cash incentives
“While the event has the incentive of Priority Status for leading performers, the idea of cash prizes was to make it attractive for the golfers and the family,” said Rajesh Srivastava, President and Founder of US Kids Golf India and Asia.
“We also plan to bring foreign coaches and send kids abroad for training.
“We have already spread across Asia in almost a dozen countries. We also welcome kids from other countries to come over to India.
“In a year’s time we propose to have an Asian Championships for US Kids from all over Asia. The venue will be a Championship course,” he added.
Dates for local Tours, which are likely to have double the number of events in two halves of the season will be announced later, as also US Kids national championships in different Asian countries.
Final results
(Delay in play due to smog at the start resulted in reduction of the final round to nine holes for all categories)
Boys
Age 7: 1. Keeon Agarwal (42-41-43) 126; 2. Adir Singh Chawla (50-45-45) 140; 3. Aahaan Gautam (59-67-64) 190
Age 8: 1. Nihal Cheema (36-34-33) 103; .2. Zowra Sikand (41-41-39) 121; 3. Ahaan Chhita (SAF) (42-41-39) 123
Age 9: 1. Taanush Kumar (82-70-37) 189; 2. Samar Singh (76-84-36) 196; 3. Aryaan Mittal (80-80-37) 197
Age 10: 1. Vedaansh Jain (79-78-37) 194; 2. Ryan Advik (82-81-41) 204; 3. Ruslaan Alam Khan (84-84-41) 209
Age 11: 1. Drona Singh Dhull (73-70-32) 175; 2. Che Faidh Amsyar Faizul (Mal) (82-78-40) 200; 3. Aayan Chittta (SAF) (75-85-41) 201
Age 12: 1. Siddhant Sharma (78-69-35) 182; 2. Adit Veeramachaneni (75-74-34) 183; 3. Raja Muhammad Syakir Raja Mohd (Mal) (73-73-39) 185
Age 13-14: 1. Arihaan Beri (72-77-36) 185; 2. Devvrat Singh (78-81-38) 197; 3. Raajveer Surri (89-76-38) 203
Age 15-18: Prince Bainsla (66-73-36) 175; 2. Shashank Sachin Gadre (72-72-36) 180; 3. Arshvant Srivastava (71-75-38) 184
Girls
Age 8: 1. Naasyha S. Sinha (37-39-36) 112; 2. Taashi Jain (42-43-43) 128; 3. Abbakka Rawat Chettri (47-38-44) 129
Age 9-10: 1. Gairat Kaur Kahlon (75-74-39) 188; 2. Aadya Kaushal (75-78-38) 191; 3. Ahana Shah (81-78-39) 198
Age 11-12: 1. Aanya Dandriyal (81-77-38) 196 (won in tie breaker); 2. Choi Quinn Cie (Mal) (81-79-36) 196; T3. Aaliyah Kalra (84-81-37) and Aaradhaya Rawat (76-84-42) 202
Age 13-14: 1. Shiksha Jain (74-77-34) 185; T2. Shambhavi Chaturvedi (74-76-40) and Ridhima Singh (68-82-40) 190
Age 15-18: 1. Preitisha Kaur Gill (76-73-38) 187; 2. Kriti Parekh (78-79-37) 194; 3. Samaira Tomar (77-80-39) 196
Also read: Bainsla in the van as youngsters impress at USKG Indian C’ship
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