Simarjeet hot favourite in LG Coimbatore Amateur Golf

Coimbatore, June 25 (UNI) Three time Sri Lanka amateur champion and India's No.3 amateur Simarjeet Singh starts off as firm favourite for the LG Coimbatore Amateur Golf Championship, to commence at the par-72 Coimbatore Golf Club here tomorrow.

The event formed the third leg of the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour.

OIL India's Simarjeet, who won here in 2005 and finished runner-up at the LG Southern India Amateur last week, said, ''The course is playing longer and scoring will be tough compared to last year.'' Meanwhile, India's No.1 amateur and defending champion Anirban Lahiri pulled out of the event. ''I want to give my body some rest and concentrate on the Nomura Cup trials from July three to 11 in New Delhi,'' the champion golfer from Eagleton said.

Apart from Simarjeet, the LG Coimbatore Amateur Golf Championship would showcase some of the best amateur talent available in the country, including the likes of No.2 amateur Jasjeet Singh, No.4 Gagan Verma, No.5 Raj Randhawa, No.8 H S Kang, No.9 Vikram Rana and No.10 amateur Abhishek Jha. Southern India junior champion Amanjyot Singh would also provide serious challenge to the seasoned amateurs.

The Sri Lankan duo of Mithun Perera and K Prabagaran, playing their third consecutive tournament on the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour, would look to improve on their performance from the previous two legs. Prabagaran incidentally won the All India Amateur Golf Championship title last season at the Coimbatore Golf Club.

The LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour would see an elite band of partners, with the Times of India as the Associate Sponsors and CNN as the Official News Channel and the Hole-in-one Sponsor. CNN would be giving away a brand new Taylormade Golf Set to the first golfer to ace the designated par-3 hole at every event. Ten Sports is the 'Official Sports Channel'.

UNI