Sri Lankan’s Kumra jumps to top in Pakistan Amateur Golf

KARACHI: Sri Lankan Lalith Kumra jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a decent five-under-par 67 on the penultimate round of the Mobilink 43rd Amateur Golf Championship at the Arabian Sea Country Club on Saturday.

Kumra ended the third round with an aggregate of 210, enjoying a one-stroke lead over Vikrant Chopra of India. Lalith Kumra played the inward half of the course in 32 and outward in 35 with just one bogey and six birdies. His card for the day was the best which gave him a top position after 54 holes.

Vikrant Chopra of India was emerging as the other title contender, who owes the runners-up spot to two-under-par 70. This included birdies on 2nd, 4th, 7th, 9th and 10th and lost a stroke on 6th, 13th and 14th hole. Two stroke behind Chopra was second day’s leader Vaqas Ahmed of Pakistan who slipped to the third spot after a disappointing three-over-par 75. He ended the day with a total of 213.

The championships have so far seen a new leader every day and the leaderboard has swayed like a pendulum. K Prabagran from the Pearl Island took the honours on the first day with the best round to date – a six-under-par 66. The Lankan faltered on the second day and Pakistan’s Vaqas Ahmed grabbed the top slot with two-under-par 70. He failed to live up to his reputation in the third round and was relegated to third spot. Vaqas abandoned his position at the top at the back nine when he triple bogeyed the 14th and double bogeyed the 15th. Vaqas handed out his top position to Lalith Kumra whose brilliant performance left the title race wide open on Sunday.

The Sri Lankan celebrated after Lalith Kumra got on the top in the individual contest and won of the 16th Jaywerdene Trophy played over 18 holes. The Sri Lankan defeated Pakistan by just one stroke to win the event for the third time. Pakistan had won this event 13 times. Sri Lankan teenager Amrith De Soysa won the juniors championship after playing a round of 73, 75 and 75 to end the 54-holes event with an aggregate of 223. Another junior from Sri Lanka, Mithun Perera, played one-under-par round of 71. This teenager made a real impact. Jamila Jabbar is maintaining her lead in the ladies event followed by Tahira Nazir and Saba Iqbal. Among the seniors Sohail Rana is leading with 74 followed by Javed A Khan and Haroon Kahloon on 76 and PGF President Gen (r) Muhammad Tariq on 77 and Murtuza Qasim on 79.

Leaders after third round:

210 – Lalith Kumra (Sri Lanka) 73-70-67

211 – Vikrant Chopra (India) 71-70-70

213 – Vaqas Ahmed (Pakistan) 68-70-75

213 – Harinder Gupta (India) 72-69-72

215 – Shahid Javed Khan (Pakistan) 72-70-73

218 – Tariq Mehmood (Pakistan) 73-70-75

218 – Manav Dad (India) 73-74-71

218 – Saddiqur Rehman (Bangladesh) 75-72-71

218 – Waseem Rana (DHA) 72-71-75

220 – M Milon Ahmed (Bangladesh) 73-73-74. —APP

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