India well on course for defending SAARC title

India well on course for defending SAARC title
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

India well on course for defending SAARC title

FEB 2: First of the two-stroke play rounds saw Ashok Kumar returning a two-under 70 card and Rahil Gangjee score a level-par 72 placing India at a tally of two-under 142.

Sri Lanka were placed a distant second at eight-over 152, ten strokes behind the hosts while Bangladesh occupied the third spot with a tally of 169. Nepal amd Bhutan were tied for fourth place at 174-apiece.

Playing on his home course, Ashok Kumar returned the best card of the day, with his two-under 72 pushing up his chances of winning the individual stroke-play championship. "I drove the ball really well today and would have done much better had I not lost ground with bogeys on the last two holes", said the 19-year old second ranked Indian amateur.

Ashok had a pretty sedate start to his round with two parred holes, before he caught fire to birdie the third, fifth and seventh, where a 6-iron saw him sink a brilliant 35 feet downhill putt and went on to bogey the final hole to settle for a 70.