Kathmandu, March 30

Nepal’s Tenzing Tshiring and Mohammad Ripon of Bangladesh earned the share of the lead after the second round of the sixth Nepal Open Amateur Championship here at the Gokarna Golf Club today.

Tshiring, who was joint second on the first day, carded two-under 70 today for a total score of one-over 145, while Ripon moved two spots up to share the lead after he shot three-under 69 to add to his overnight score of four-over 76.

Overnight leader Sukra Bahadur Rai played one-over 73 to drop down to third at three-over 147, while Dechen Ugyan of Bhutan produced the best card of the day carding four-under 68 to move to fourth position at five-over 149. His Bhutanese compatriot Tshendra Dorji (78) shared the fifth position with Nepal’s Tanka Bahadur Karki (74) at 153, while Capt Norbu Sherpa (74), Tashi Dong (77) and Shiva Kumar Majhi (79) were tied on seventh position at 10-over 154.

The 15-year-old Tshiring, who represented Nepal in the Faldo Series Asia Finals in China last month, played two-under 34 before taking the turn and played even-par 36 on the back nine. He carded three birdies on the first, fourth and sixth holes against a lone bogey on the third. Tshiring then added two more birdies on the 12th and 14th holes but he was undone by a double bogey on the par-5 15th hole.

After a bad opening round, last month’s Bangladesh Open winner Ripon came back strongly sinking an eagle on the third and carding a birdie on the sixth hole. He dropped a shot on the ninth to take the turn at two-under 34. Ripon then carded two birdies on the 11th and 13th holes before facing a bogey on the 14th hole. He saved parson the last four holes to finish the back nine at one-under 35.

First-round leader Rai played one-over 37 on the front nine before playing even-par 36 on the latter half. He carded a birdie on the fifth and sank an eagle on the 12th against four bogeys on the second, ninth, 15th and 16th holes. Likewise, Bhutanese golfer Ugyan carded birdies on the first, fourth and ninth holes for a three-under 33 on the front nine. He added three more birdies on the 11th, 12th and 18th holes against a double bogey on the 13th to finish the back nine at one-under 35. The cut was applied at 29-over 173 with 3o players making it to the third and final round of the 54-hole competition.

In team event, Bhutan won the trophy with the total score of 14-over 302. Ugyan (81, 68) and Dorji (75, 78) added two-over 146 on the second day to move to top and register a two-stroke victory over Bangladesh.

Overnight leader Bangladeshi team of Ripon (76, 69) and Akabar Hossain (81, 76) finished second with the score of 304, while Nepal ‘A’ of Karki (79, 74) and Tashi Tshiring (79, 83) came third with 315. Nepal ‘B’ of Majhi (75, 79) and Prithivi Malla (85, 80) finished at the bottom of the four-team competition with the score of 319.