Saini on song but India lose ground

Last year’s individual champion Poom Saksansin led the charge with a second consecutive four-under 68 as Thailand took their overall tally to 427 in the boys’ category, increasing their lead over India to five strokes after the second round on another sweltering day at the Eagleton Golf Resort.

In the girls’ section, Chinese Taipei (291) hold a one-stroke lead over Thailand with India slipping down to third at 296.

India No 1 Junior Saini  was scratchy on the opening day after failing to understand the greens properly. But no such problems existed on day two for the talented 16-year-old, who began brightly but rather disappointingly could not keep up the momentum.

Saini reeled off some long putts in carding a four-under 68. He fired in two 15-foot birdies on the first and sixth, then picking up strokes with 10-foot putts on the third and 10th holes. However, the backward journey was modest with a bogey on the 13th cancelld out with a birdie in the 16th.

In the individual championship, Chinese Taipei’s Teng Kao (133) stole the limelight after firing a scorching eight-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over Chikkarangappa, who was again blemish-free for his 68

Leading scores (India unless mentioned): Team championship: Boys: 427: Thailand (217, 210); 432: India (220, 212); 436: Chinese Taipei (221, 215); 462: Philippines (232, 230).
Girls: 291: Chinese Taipei (143, 148); 292: Thailand (150, 142); 296: India (149, 147); 298: Singapore (144, 154).

Individual championship: Boys: Category A&B: 133: Teng Kao (Chn Tpe) (69, 64); 134: Chikkarangappa (66, 68); 136: Poom Saksansin (Tha) (68, 68); 141: Ashbeer Saini (73, 68); 142: Wei-Hou Liu (Chn Tpe) (70, 72).

Category B: 146: Sung-I Yu (Chn Tpe) (74, 72); 149: Nattawat Suvajanakorn (Tha) (75, 74); 149: Pariwat Pinsawat (Tha) (77, 72); 152: Marc Ong (Sin) (78, 74); 154: Shubhankar Sharma (77, 77).

Category C: 147: Piyush Sangwan (72, 75); 152: Prakhar Asawa (78, 74); 154: Viraj Madappa (76, 78); 155: Pawat Kongkanjana (Tha) (75, 80); 156: Feroz Garewal (77, 79).
Category D: 142: Puwit Anupansuebsai (Tha) (71, 71); 168: Karandeep Kochar (82, 86); 171: Kshitij Kaul (84, 87); 186: Aadil Bedi (91, 95); 187: Pratheek Nagaprasad (92, 95).
Gilrs: Category A&B: 145: Jo-Ee Kok (Sin) (70, 75), Pavarisa Yoktuan (Tha) (76, 69); 146: Wei-Ling Hsu (Chn Tpe) (71, 75); 147: Hsuan-Yu Yao (Chn Tpe) (72, 75); 147: Princess Mary Superal (Phi) (73, 74); 147: Andrea Unson (Phi) (76, 71).

Category B: 147: Princess Mary Superal (Phi) (73, 74); 148: Pinrath Loomboonruang (Tha) (75, 73); 154: Mimi Ho (HK) (76, 78); 154: Gurbani Singh (83, 71); 158: Ssu-Chia Cheng (ChnTpe) (81, 77).