Kolkata: Khalin Joshi and Amandeep Drall grabbed the lead on the first day of the Asian Games trials for golf which began at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club here on Tuesday.
Joshi from Bengaluru had a superb streak of birdies from the first to the fourth and added a fifth on hole number six on way to a solid five-under 67 that included a total of seven birdies against two bogeys, one each on either side of the historic RCGC course.
Joshi was followed by Ajeetesh Sandhu, whose 4-under 68 included five birdies and one solitary bogey.
Four players led by Rashid Khan, a team silver medallist at the 2010 Asian Games, while being an amateur, Olympian SSP Chawrasia, Aman Raj and Yuvraj Sandhu shot 3-under 69 each.
Two other players, Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Baisoya carded 2-under 70 each, while Karandeep Kochhar and S Chikkarangappa shot 1-under 71 each as 10 out of the 19 men playing the selection trials shot under par.
Among women, Amandeep Drall, who had just one birdie in first 10 holes, dropped a shot on 11th but holed five straight birdies from 12th to 16th before dropping a second shot on 17th and finished 4-under 68.
Drall was followed by Tokyo Olympics participant Diksha Dagar, who shot 3-under 69 with an eagle, two birdies and a bogey.
Four players, Tvesa Malik, Neha Tripathi, Pranavi Urs and Avani Prashanth carded 2-under 70 each to be tied third.
Vani Kapoor was the other player in the women’s section to shoot under par with 1-under 71.
A total of 19 men and 19 women are competing for the Indian team which will play at the Asian Games in China in September-October this year.
