Karandeep dominates in Men’s competition; Avani wins Gold in Ladies section
Medal Winners – Abhinav Lohan (Silver), Karandeep Kochhar (Gold) and Sunhit Bishnoi (Bronze)
After the recent announcement that Golf would feature in the next edition of the Commonwealth Games, its inclusion in the National Games was the latest boost for recognition of golf as a mainline sport.
Around 12- 15 states fielded teams in the golf competition, consisting of a mix of professionals and amateurs. Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar, who has tasted several victories on the PGTI Tour, dominated with scores of 68-66-65-68 for a total of 21-under 267 to win the Men’s individual gold medal by a whopping margin of 10 strokes at Kensville Golf & CC in Ahmedabad.
Abhinav Lohan, representing Haryana, shot 68-66-72-71 (11-under 277) to earn silver, followed by Sunhit Bishnoi, also from Haryana, 73-69-69-70 (7-under 281), who claimed the bronzel. Notably the top 3 finishers were all from the pro ranks.
In the Ladies section, it was a different story where the amateurs proved equal to the professional players . In fact 16 year old amateur Avani Prashanth of Bangalore came from four shots back on the final day to total even-par 288 to take home the gold medal with WGAI professional Amandeep Drall of Punjab in 2nd and another seasoned pro followed by Vani Kapoor of Haryana, who took home the bronze medal.
Gaurika Bishnoi of Haryana shot 73-74-77-71 (7-over 295) to finish T3rd with Vani Kapoor in the competition.
Chandigarh wins Men’s Team’s category
Karandeep Kochhar and Anant Singh Ahlawat earned the gold medal for Chandigarh. They won the event by a whopping 10 shots over Team Karnataka, represented by amateur Aryan Roopa Anand and seasoned pro Trishul Chinnappa with Team Delhi consisting of Sachin Baisoya and Shaurya Bhattacharya settling for bronze.
Karnataka wins Ladies Team Category
From L-R – Amandeep Drall (Silver), Avani Prashanth (Gold) and Vani Kapoor (Bronze)
Avani Prashanth and Durga Nittur representing Team Karnataka won gold a margin of nine-strokes over Team Haryana, consisting of Lavanya Jadon and Vani Kapoor while the bronze went to Team Punjab consisting of Mannat Brar and Amandeep Drall.
In all 22 men and 21 ladies participated in the individual events, while 11 men’s and women’s teams participated in the competition played over 72 holes from Oct. 6-9 in Ahmedabad. Gujarat.
As each state had to arrange the travel and stay costs of their players, creditably it was the Karnataka Golf Association club who footed the expenses for the four state players.
The involvement of states producing teams gives a new perspective to the development of the game in each state and should give players a boost for future competitions.
Credits:-
Photo – National Games