NEW DELHI – March 3, 2005 – Rising star Joseph Chakola scripted an exciting win on the first play-off hole over Pakistan’s Vaquas Ahmed to put an end to the Pakistan challenge on the third day of the Royal Challenge Eveready 104th All India Amateur Championship being played at the par-72 Delhi Golf Club (DGC).
In other contests that went on to a playoff, Md. Siddikur of Bangladesh triumphed over Delhi’s Chirag Kumar, winner of the Royal Challenge RCGC Cup, while Chandigarh’s Karanjeet Singh ousted All-India Amateur 2002 winner Manav Das of Ambala.
Among other key matches, top-ranked amateur Gaganjeet Bhullar advanced to the pre-quarter finals with a comfortable 5&4 win over Sanjeev Singh. Three-time winner of the Sri Lankan Amateur Simarjeet Singh and DGC’s Gagan Verma who are due to face each other in the next round conquered their opponents DS Khullar and Wilfred Paul respectively with identical score-lines of 5&3. Meanwhile, KA Chandradasa of Sri Lanka, the only other foreign player left in the draw triumphed over talented 13-year old Pan Chun Tsung of China.
In two other matches, age stole a march over youth as DGC veteran Sanjeev Talwar, finalist at the All-India Amateur in 1980 and ‘81 defeated 21-year old Manav Jaini on the 18th hole while Vinay Goel from the Army Golf Course scored a 4&3 victory over teenager Raj Randhawa.
The Chakola-Ahmed contest, which was evenly matched throughout, proceeded to a playoff after the two had an equal number of holes to their names at the end of 18. However an errant tee-shot on the first playoff hole from Ahmed was swallowed by the thick bushes lining the fairway on the left. Even though the Pakistani star tried hard to recover the ball, the punishing rough didn’t allow him to and he conceded the match to his Indian opponent. Incidentally, Chakola won the Eastern India Open in Kolkata last year, the only Matchplay event on the Royal Challenge Indian Golf Tour’s 2004-05 season.
A challenging day lies ahead for the players tomorrow, which will witness both the pre-quarter finals and the quarter finals being played. An exciting draw is on the cards which includes Joseph Chakola taking on former India number one amateur Vikrant Chopra and Amit Luthra, Gold Medallist at the 1982 Asian Games taking on Chandigarh’s top amateur, AS Lehal.
Important Results (Round-3): G.Bhullar bt Sanjeev Singh 5&4; Abhishek Ahlawat beat Uday Marwah 4&2; Fatehbir Dhaliwal bt Chung Ming Chuan 1-up; Md Siddikur Rahman bt Chirag Kumar (on the 19th); JJ Chakola bt Vaquas Ahmed (on the 19th ); Vikrant Chopra bt Shaurya SIngh 4&3; MS Pathania bt Aditya Singh 3&2; KA Chandradasa bt Pan Chung Tsung 5&4; Amit Luthra bt JS Dullet 6&5; AS Lehal bt Keshav Kapoor 5&4; Karanjeet Singh bt Manav Das (on the 19th); M Rakesh bt Rajiv Kumar 5&3; Sanjeev Talwar bt Manav Jaini 1-up; Simarjeet Singh bt DS Khullar 5&3; Gagan Verma bt Wilfred Paul 5&3
Pre-quarter final line-up: G Bhullar vs Abhishek Ahlawat (7.am); Fatehbir Dhaliwal vs Md Siddikur Rahman (7.07 am); JJ Chakola vs Vikrant Chopa (7.14 a.m); MS Pathania vs Chandradasa (SL) (7.21 am); Amit Luthra vs AS Lehal (7.28 a.m.); Karanjeet Singh vs Vinay Goel (7.35a.m.); M Rakesh vs Sanjeev Talwar (7.42 a.m); Simarjeet Singh vs Gagan Verma (7.49 a.m.)
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