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India takes healthy lead

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI APRIL 18. Indian Open amateur titlist Harinder Gupta fired the only sub-par score on the first day to put India on a healthy nine-stroke lead over Sri Lanka, in the fifth SAARC golf championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here on Friday.

The Chandigarh amateur Gupta had an incredible four-round score of level-par 288 at the same venue last month in the Asian PGA Tour event. He continued his liking for the course as he posted a card of one-under 71 with three birdies and two bogeys.

While Gupta, the number two amateur on the Indian Golf Union's (IGU) Order of Merit, did well, the other two Indians — Keshav Mishra and Jaideep Patwardhan — were scratchy.

Patwardhan recovered in time to log the second best individual score of the day at 73. He had bounced back nicely from a precarious front-nine two-over 38.

Mishra, the number one golfer on the IGU list, however, failed to match his billing. The Delhi golfer bogeyed four holes on the home stretch as he carded 74.

With the two best scores being considered for the team total, India's first day aggregate was par 144. Nine strokes adrift was Sri Lanka (153), while Bangladesh (159) was a distant third.

B.G. Lalitha Kumara played well early on and threatened to break the par. He was three-under after 12 holes, but a bogey on the 13th and back-to-back double-bogeys on the par-four 15th and 16th spoiled his card. Still Lalitha Kumara managed 75 and gave Sri Lanka a chance to make it to Sunday's matchplay final.

The other two countries in the annual championship, Nepal and Bhutan, have virtually put themselves out of contention. For Nepal, C.B. Bhandari (80) and Tashi Ghale (88) added to the team total as Deep Basnet (90) strayed into the jungle a number of times.

The scores:

Team: 1. India (Harinder Gupta 71, Jaideep Patwardhan 73) 144; 2. Sri Lanka (N. Amaraprathama 78, B.G. Lalitha Kumara 75) 153; 3. Bangladesh (Mohammed Siddikur Rehman 77, Mohammed Milon Ahammad 82) 159; 4. Nepal (C. B. Bhandari 80, Tashi Ghale 88) 168; 5. Bhutan (Karma Lama 96, Dawo Penjore 87) 183.

Individual: Harinder Gupta 71; Jaideep Patwardhan 73; Keshav Mishra 74; Lalitha Kumara 75; Siddikur Rehman 77; Amaraprathama 78; C.B. Bhandari 80; Milon Ahammad 82; Dawon Penjore 87; Tashi Ghale and J.M.D. Indika Santha 88; Deep Basnet 90; Karma Lama 96.

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