While Shamim stitched together a sedate two-under 70, Jani fired a flawless three-under 69 to stay one stroke ahead the chasing pack at the Karnataka Golf Association. Shamim and Jaini are at 139.
Overnight leader Mukesh Kumar’s putter once again deserted him as the Mhow golfer battled to level-par score to slip to tied third at 141 with Om Prakash Chouhan (67) and Ashok Kumar (71). Local favourite Anirban Lahiri had an erratic round comprising of four bogeys and three birdies for a share of seventh place with Vinod Kumar, Himmat Singh Rai and Shankar Das at 142.
Shamim made a good start to the day, finding birdies on the first and second. But he dropped a stroke on the eighth before cancelling it out on the ninth. Jaini, a 10th tee starter, parred all in his forward journey before sinking two birdies on the return.
Leading scores: 139: Shamim Khan (69, 70), Manav Jaini (70, 69); 140: Om Prakash Chouhan (73, 67), Mukesh Kumar (68, 72); 141: Ashok Kumar (70, 71), Rafick Ali Mollah (72, 69); 142: Himmat Singh Rai (73, 69), Anirban Lahiri (69, 73), Vinod Kumar (71, 71), Shankar Das (70, 72); 143: Digvijay Singh (71, 72), Rudresh Sharma (69, 74), Anura Rohana (73, 70), Toran Nikram Sahi (74, 69).