Manesar: Nihal Cheema, Drona Singh Dhull and Prince Bainsla among the boys, and Naaysha S Sinha, Gairat Kaur Kahlon and Shiksha Jain, among the girls, were outstanding performers in the fifth edition of the US Kids Golf Indian Championship at Classic Golf and Country Club.
Despite challenging weather conditions and the smog, local golfers made a clean sweep of the titles, with creditable displays in a rather tricky situation.
The Tournament Committee reduced the final round for all sections to nine holes because there was insufficient daylight on account of a delayed start.
Nihal Cheema in Boys 8 was the only player to shoot par or better on all three days, emerging as a runaway winner over his main rival, Zowra Sikand. Chandigarh lad Cheema posted rounds of 36-34-33 in his 9-hole rounds. On the final day, he was bogey-free and had three birdies.
Another fine performer was Haryana golfer Drona Singh Dhull, who birdied four of the nine holes in the Boys 11 category. He shot the best round of the day, a 4-under 32 for nine holes, with four birdies and no bogeys.
Prince Bainsla, who had the best round of the week among all players with a 6-under 66 on the first day, won the Boys 15-18 ahead of Shashank Sachin Gadre, who had par scores on all three days. Arshvant Srivastava was third.
The standout players in Girls include Aanya Dandriyal in Girls 11-12 and Preitisha Kaur Gill in Girls 15-18.
Aanya Dandriyal and Malaysia’s Choi Quinn Cie were locked in a close battle, with both totalling 196 over 45 holes. The tie-breaker was won by Aanya, who, in her regulation round, had an eagle and a birdie against four bogeys.
Among the other outstanding performers of the week were Naaysha S Sinha in Girls 8, Gairat Kaur Kahlon in Girls 9-10, and Shiksha Jain in Girls 13-14.
Among the other stars in the Boys section were Taanush Kumar in Boys 9, Vedaansh Jain in Boys 10, Siddhant Sharma in Boys 12, and Arihaan Beri in Boys 13-14.
For the first time, all winners up to fifth place were awarded cash prizes. The winners received Rs. 25,000, while second and third places received Rs. 10,000 each, and the next three places were rewarded with Rs. 5,000 each.
“While the US Kids Indian Championship has the incentive of Priority Status for the leading performers, the idea of cash prizes was to make it attractive for the golfers and the family, who put in so much effort to make their kids champions,” said Rajesh Srivastava, President and Founder of US Kids Golf India and Asia.
“We also plan to bring foreign coaches and send the kids abroad for training.”
“We have already spread across Asia in almost a dozen countries, where our Indian kids are welcome to play. We also welcome kids from other countries to come over to India. In a year’s time we propose to have an Asian Championships for US Kids from all over Asia. The venue will be a top class Championship course,” he added.
The US Kids Indian Championships also featured Skills contests with various prizes.
The dates for the local Tours, which are likely to have double the number of events and will be divided into two halves of the season, will be announced later, as will the various US Kids National Championships in different Asian countries.
IANS
