KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 16

Top Nepali amateur golfer Subash Tamang crashed out of the IGU 121st Amateur Golf Championship of India at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in Mumbai today.

Tamang faced a 3&2 defeat against India No 1 golfer Shaurya Bhattacharya in the Round of 16 clash of the Match Play competition.

The 13th South Asian Games double gold medal winner, Tamang started well winning the first hole but Bhattacharya hit back winning the third and fourth holes.

The Indian golfer extended the lead after Tamang failed to make chip and putt from 15 yards, and Bhattacharya won the ninth with a par despite playing from the jungle as Tamang three-putted for a bogey.

Bhattacharya took a fourhole lead after he made a par putt from 30 yards on the 10th hole. After sharing the next two holes, Tamang bounced back and won the 13th and 14th to reduce the deficit to two holes.

Tamang was also close to winning the 15th hole after Bhattacharya hit his drive into the jungle but the Indian golfer recovered well with a long chip and putt to share the hole. Bhattacharya then carded a birdie on the 16th hole to complete the victory.

Tamang made it to the Match Play after he shared 10th position in the 36-hole competition, while Bhattacharya came sixth.

Also making it to the quarter-finals were Harimohan Singh, Shaurya Sharma, Mandaar Prashar, Sandeep Yadav, Vinamra Anand, Mohd Wasil and Yuvraj Singh.

The quarter-final matches were also played on Friday with Bhattacharya, Mohd Wasil, Sandeep Yadav and Harimohan Singh making it to the last four. The semi-finals are on Saturday, while the 36-hole final will be played on Sunday.

Out of the 53 golfers, including two from Nepal, who took part in the most prestigious amateur golf tournament of India, top 32 in the 36-hole competition qualified for the Match Play.

While Tamang made it to the Match Play as 11th-ranked player, another Nepali player Sadbhav Acharya failed to make the cut.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.