Branden, Tariq cruise into 2nd round of All India golf

Coimbatore, Feb 14 (UNI) South African Branden Grace had an easy opening round as he walloped Delhi's Rudresh Sharma 6 and 5 to reach the second round of the 106th Royal Challenge All India Amateur Golf Championship here today.

Joining Brandon in the second round was Pakistan's Tariq Mehmood and Sri Lankan Mithun Perera, besides other leading amateurs of the country. The top-15 seeds got a bye into the second round.

Tariq had an easy outing against the less fancied Mohd Sathar.

Tariq clinched the tie 4 and 3 to join Sri Lankan Mithun Perera in the second Round. Perera beat Samresh Sardar 3 and 1.

In one of the upsets of the day, Bangalore's M R Raja beat Pakistan's Adil Jahangir 2 and 1 to go into the next round. Raja displayed no sign of nerves while playing against the No 2 Pakistan amateur.

Earlier, 16th seed Ajai Sirohi made a telling statement by vanquishing Ramnana Reddy 10 and 8.

UNI