Shubhankar, Nishant share lead on opening day

The duo shot 73 each to grab the early honours on a sultry day at the Karnataka Golf Association, where most of the local players struggled to come to terms with the conditions.
Local lad Syed Saqib Ahmed shot 74 to lie second in Category A while club-mate and one of the title favourites, Trishul Chinnappa, blew hot and cold for a 75, tied along with Yashas Chandra. The biggest surprise of the day was the performance of Bais. Competing in Category B but eligible for the Category A title, the 15-year-old from DLF Golf Course, Gurgaon made an impressive comeback after going three-over with five holes to go.
Bangalore’s Aditi Ashok shot a disappointing 80 but still held the lead in girls’ Category A.

Leading scores (after 18 holes): Boys: Category A&B: 73: Shubhankar Sharma, Nishant Bais; 74: Syed Saqib Ahmed; 75: Yashas Chandra, Trishul Chinnappa; 76: Kushal Singh, Rohan Sharma; 77: Satwik Jain; 78: Aman Raj, Nikhil Mohan, Hemendra Choudhary, Viraj Madappa. Category B: 73: Nishant Bais; 78: Viraj Madappa; 79: Shiv Srinivasan; 80: Vidit Singh, Jairaj Sandhu, Feroz Singh Garewal. Category C: 82: Tanvir Kahlon; 87: Arjun Puri, Kartik Sharma; 88: Karandeep Kochar; 89: Jaiveer Singh. Girls: Category A&B: 80: Aditi Ashok; 81: Raksha Phadke; 83: Millie Saroha; 90: Mehak Sharma; 91: Amrita Sarna, Vrinda Yadav. Category B: 80: Aditi Ashok; 115: Trisha Kumar.
Category C: 93: Suchitra Ramesh; 97: Shruti Shenoy; 101: Riya Ahuja.