Edited by Anand Datla
Kolkata, November 20: On a day that saw a few big names bite the dust, Panchkula’s Anant Singh Ahlawat and Sidhartha Sharatram of Coimbatore made sure they grabbed the headlines with comprehensive victories over former top junior Syed Saqib Ahmed and India international Feroz Singh Garewal respectively at the Tata Steel Eastern India Amateur 2014. They both recorded 6&5 first round wins of the match play event being played at the Par – 72 Royal Calcutta Golf Club here. (Read more in Golf)
It was an off day for both, Saqib and Feroz as they made a number of bogeys against their unfancied opponents. Anant made sure once he squared the match by winning the 2nd hole, with a birdie, Saqib didn’t have a look in by consistently hitting pars interspersed with birdies on the 6th and 13th holes. Feroz couldn’t manage to win a single hole against the inspired Sidhartha as the Coimbatore lad went 4 up at the turn capitalizing on Feroz’s errors. All he needed was a couple of pars to close out the match on the 13th hole itself.
“I’m quite surprised actually, with the margin of victory but Saqib gave me the openings and I was more than glad to take them.” Said Anant, who now faces top seed Aman Raj, who had a comfortable outing against veteran H. S. Kang walking away with 2&1 win while Bangalore lad Trishul Chinnappa, who made an early exit here last year, beat last year’s runner up and city mate B. R. Raja by the same score line.
In another upset, defending champion Arjun Sharma was shown the door by the fast improving Zubin Nijhawan of Chandigarh 3&2. Lokesh Lakshman scored an unlikely come from behind 1 up victory over third seeded Samarth Dwivedi by winning the 17th and 18th holes. Two other matches went all the way through to the 18th hole with Harimohan Singh and Pratap Atwal coming out on top while three others went beyond in to playoffs as local lad Mohan Sardar taking Hemendra Chaudhary to the 21st hole before losing the battle of nerves.
Top amateur Udayan Mane breezed past Imran Ali Mollah of Kolkata with a 4&3 win while it was last week’s winner and local lad Viraj Madappa who produced marvelous golf on the back nine with three birdies and an eagle to eventually beat tour veteran Simarjeet Singh by a 4&3 margin, after being all square at the turn.
The Tata Steel Eastern India Amateur will see two rounds, the round of 16 and the quarterfinals being played tomorrow in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively.
Top Results (Round of 32):
Aman Raj beat H. S. Kang 2&1; Anant Singh Ahlawat beat Syed Saqib Ahmed 6&5; Tapendra Ghai beat Vikram Rana 1 Up; Trishul Chinnappa beat B. R. Raja 2&1; Kurush Heerjee beat Md. Wasil 19th hole; Zubin Nijhawan beat Arjun Sharma 3&2; Sidhartha Sharatram beat Feroz Singh Garewal 6&5; Udayan Mane beat Imran Ali Mollah 4&3; Viraj Madappa beat Simarjeet Singh 4&3; Lokesh Lakshman beat Samarth Dwivedi 1 Up; Pratap Atwal beat Sandeep Yadav 1 Up
Line Up (Round of 16):
Aman Raj vs Anant Singh Ahlawat; Tapendra Ghai vs Trishul Chinnappa; Harimohan Singh vs Kurush Heerjee; Sunit Chowrasia vs Zubin Nijhawan; Sidhartha Sharatram vs Hemendra Chaudhary; Udayan Mane vs Viraj Madappa; Lokesh Lakshman vs Pratap Atwal; Sanjay Lakra vs Rahul Ravi
