Chikka narrows down the lead

Bangalore lad claws back to set up an exciting final round with Khalin Joshi

 
After staging a good recovery in round two, Chikkarangappa (78, 73) went into the lead for the first time in the tournament at the turn before surrendering it back to Joshi by carding two-over 73 for an overall score of 11-over 224. Chikkarangappa, the Junior Order of Merit List leader, now lies a stroke behind leader Joshi (69, 79, 75).

Category B leader Hemendra Chaudhary (72, 82) continued his fine display to card a seven-over 78 for an overall third. The 14-year-old from Jaipur holds a sound six-stroke lead over Rahul Ravi (79, 77, 82).

The 17-year-old Joshi had another mixed opening nine. He began the day with a birdie on the first hole before double-bogeying the very next and sinking a bogey on the fourth.

Joshi then holed birdie on the fifth and a bogey on the seventh, while Chikkarangappa
collected his first birdie of the day on the eighth to level the scores.

Joshi, who lost his way miserably in the previous round with a quadruple bogey on hole 9, suffered another moment of shock when a bogey there cost him the lead. However, Joshi regained focus and a better performance on the back nine helped him retain the lead. While he had just two bogeys -- 10, 13 --  Chikkarangappa slipped up the advantage to bogey the 11th, 13th and 17th.

Piyush Sanghwan (84, 80, 85) leads the pack in category C and Karandeep S Kochar (90, 90) is still in front after 36 holes for category D.

Leading scorers: Category A: 223: Khalin Joshi (69, 79, 75); 224: Chikkarangappa (78, 73, 73); 232: Hemendra Chaudhary (72, 82, 78); 237: Imamul Haque (77, 84, 76); 238: Rahul Ravi (79, 77, 82); 239: Aman Raj (81, 78, 80); 240: Arjun Sharma (82, 78, 80).

Category B: 232: Hemendra Chaudhary (72, 82, 78); 238: Rahul Ravi (79, 77, 82); 239: Aman Raj (81, 78, 80); 244: Roshan Raj (81, 84, 79), Vashishta Pawar (80, 83, 81); 245: Rohan Sharma (79, 81, 85), Manu Gandas (81, 81, 83).

Category C: 249: Piyush Sanghwan (84, 80, 85); 253: Shiv Naren Srinivasan (87, 83, 83); 255: Kartikey Vashisht (93, 80, 82).

Category D (after 36 holes): 180: Karandeep S Kochar (90, 90); 184: Sidharth K (93, 91), Jaiveer Singh (93, 91); 185: Arjun (91, 94).