Aug 21, 2013. Manu Gandas bagged the silver in the men’s golf strokeplay competition at the Asian Youth Games in Nanjing China.
The young lad – all of seventeen – from Gurgaon carded the day’s best four-under 68 in the third and final round to finish with 11-under 205 overall. Gandas was two strokes behind gold medal winner Chun-An Yu of Chinese Taipei at the Zhongshan golf course. Boonma Danthai of Thailand took the bronze with a 9-under 207 (69, 69, 69).
[highlight] Proud moment for me and very well done Manu Gandas by winning the Silver Medal for India today at the 2nd Youth Asian Games in Nanjing, China – Coach Anitya Chand [/highlight]
Yu had carded an incredible 64 to jump to a six-stroke lead on the opening day before Gandas narrowed it down to three strokes with a five-under 69 on a rain-curtailed second day.
The final round had everyone on their toes. The leading trio went pretty in the final round, carding identical scores in the first four holes before Yu got two birdies to enter the second nine with a four stroke lead.
Gandas kept his cool to birdie the par-5 11th but a bogey on 12th gave advantage to Yu once again. Gandas closed with a birdie, but it was a little too late. “It feels good, I am kind of satisfied,” Gandas, who has had a humble upbringing. His father Badan Gandas works at DLF and has grown to be a physical instructor.
Viraaj Madappa, the other Indian boy in the fray, shrugged off a two-point penalty to card a four-under 68 for an overall 221.
Compiled by GolfingIndian.com, inputs from Gandas’ coach.
