Suleman Ali shocked defending champion and his close friend Shamim Khan in the first round of the SRF matchplay championship at the Delhi Golf Club here on Tuesday.
It was a memorable day for 61st-ranked Suleman who beat fourth seeded Shamim, a leading professional of the country, 2 and 1. “It was a great start for me to beat the defending champion,” said the 31-year-old.
In the second round, Suleman will meet 36th-seeded Shaurya Singh.
Last year's runner-up Vinod Kumar, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Himmat Singh Rai were the other top-20 players to face defeat on the opening day. Former Indian Open winner Ali Sher was another prominent player to crash out early.
The results (first round): Ashok Kumar bt Amritinder Singh 4 and 3; Mohammad Zamal Hossain Mollah bt Ranjit Singh Rathore 6 and 5; Sudhir Sharma bt Himmat Singh Rai 1-up; Harendra P. Gupta bt Arshdeep Tiwana 5 and 3; Raju Ali Mollah bt Manoj Kumar 4 and 3; Mohammad Islam bt Abhishek Jha 1-up; Shankar Das bt Rashid Khan 1-up; Raffick Ali Mollah bt Kunal Bhasin 2 and 1; Suleman Ali bt Shamim Khan 2 and 1.
Shaurya Singh bt Karanjit Singh Sandhu 3 and 2; Sujjan Singh bt Sheeraz Kalra 4 and 3; R. Murthy bt Raj Randhawa on 21st hole; Chiragh Kumar bt Kapil Kumar 2 and 1; Vishal Singh bt Randhir Singh Ghotra 1-up; Sanjay Kumar bt Amandeep Johl 4 and 3; Gaurav Pratap Singh bt Gurbaaz Mann 3 and 2; Mukesh Kumar bt Rajiv Datar on 19th hole.
Toran Bikram Shahi bt Ali Sher 1-up; Rudresh Sharma bt Ajeetesh Sandhu 2 and 1; Feroz Ali Mollah bt Navtez Singh 4 and 3; Mandeo Singh Pathania bt Mohd. Shakhawat Hossain Sohel 2-up; Vikrant Chopra bt Vivek Bhandari 1-up; Mithun Perera bt Vinod Kumar 2 and 1; Ranjit Singh bt Nabin Mandal on 20th hole; Vijay Kumar bt Siddharth Sharma 5 and 3; Gurki Shergill bt Anirudh Goyal 5 and 4; M. Dharma bt Amardip Sinh Malik on 19th hole; Digvijay Singh bt Yusuf Ali (conceded); Manav Jaini bt Karan Vasudeva 2 and 1; Pappan bt R. Srinivas 1-up; Anura Rohana bt Maniram Sahrma 2 and 1; Om Prakash Chouhan bt Naman Dawar 3 and 1.
