Butta, Randhawa in semi finals

Coimbatore, Feb 16 (UNI) Kolkata's Akshay Butta came from behind to upset top seed Abhishek Jha on the second play-off hole to enter the semi-finals of the 106th Royal Challenge All India Amateur Golf Championship at the par-72 Coimbatore Golf Club here today.

In another upset, Delhi's Raj Randhawa defeated local lad Joseph Chakola on the second play-off hole.

In other quarter final matches, Sri Lanka's three-time amateur champion Simarjeet Singh defeated Delhi's Vikram Rana 2-1 while his compatriot K Prabagaran got the better of South African Ruan Botha 1-up. In the semis, Simarjeet is drawn to play Akshay Butta while Raj Randhawa will battle it out with Prabagaran for a spot in a 36-hole final.

Akshay Butta-Abhishek Jha encounter was a classic. Jha was sitting pretty at 5-up after 12 holes. But Butta bounced back clinching the 13 th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes to force a play-off.

In the play off, after both the golfers halved the first play-off hole with a par, Butta clinched the match with a 20 feet birdie putt on the second play-off hole.

''It was a tight contest but I held my nerves to pull it off,'' said Butta who lost to Himmat Rai in the semi-final of the 2006 Royal Challenge Eastern India Amateur Golf Championship in Kolkata .

Results: (Quarter-finals ): Simarjeet Singh bt. Vikram Rana 2&1, Akshay Butta bt Abhiskek Jha (20 th hole), Raj Randhawa bt. Joseph Chakola (20th hole), K Prabagaran bt Ruan Botha 1-up.

UNI