Jaitha who had a card of 70 yesterday, managed a three-over par 73 to tally 143 after 36 holes of the 72-hole strokeplay event.

Lucknow's Sheeraz Kalra and Manav Das of Ambala had identical scores for the second successive day. Both carded a three-over par 73 to be one stroke behind the leaders.

Kang started the day well with birdies on the first, third, fourth and seventh. But bogeys on the eighth and ninth saw him go two-under on his way out.

The back nine, however, was more erratic. He birdies the par three 10th but the next three were a nightmare. He dropped a shot on the par-4 11th, double bogeyed the 12th and added to his woes by another bogey on the 13th to go one over for the day after being four-under at one point. Kang, a semi-finalistin the Eastern India Amateur fired a birdie on the par-five 16th followed by pars and register his score in blue.

Mumbai's Rohit Goyal also carded 70 today interspersed with birdies on the third, fourth, seventh and 10th.

Jaitha had a better back nine today. He had a jittery start to go three over after nine holes. But birdies on the 14th and 16th saw him level par for the back nine.

Defending champion Jaideep Patwardhan was more settled today carding a 72 today, three-strokes better than yesterday. ``I am confident of an encore here,'' said the Pune amateur, ``But need to do something on my putting. It's just not coming well.''

Reigning National champion Harmeet Kahlon of Chandigarh dropped three strokes more today for a total of 145. ``My overall game has been good. It's just that I was a trifle unlucky today,'' said the 28-year-old indicating the dropped shot on the 16th and a double bogey on the 18th.

Former National champion Amit Luthra had a much better day after going seven over yesterday. Hecarded a steady one over par 71 today with as many as 14 regulations. ``It was much better today. Just need to hang on,'' he said.

LEADING SCORERS (after 36 holes)

143: HS Kang (73+70), Amish Jaitha (70+73); 144: Manav Das (71+73), Sheeraz Kalra (71+73); 145: Harmeet Kahlon (71+74); 146: Digvijay Singh (74+72); 147: Jaideep Patwardhan (75+72); 148: Amit Luthra (77+71), Mageswaran (73+75); 149: Keshav Mishra (78+71), Aman Behl (78+71)