Ananyaa Sood
Edinburgh, May 30: The Indian contingent at the 2024 US Kids European Championships was off to a flying start with as many as three of them in either sole or shared lead after the first round, while three others were in Top-3 and four others were in Top-8.
A total of 22 young Indian golfers, who qualified for the European Championships either through the US Kids Indian local Tours in Gurgaon or Bengaluru or the 2023 Indian Championships.
More than 600 golfers from about 25 countries are taking part in 17 age groups, nine in boys and eight in girls and they are playing on four well-known golf courses in Scotland.
The three Indians, who are in sole lead or sharing lead in their respective age groups include Ananyaa Sood of Delhi who is in sole lead in Girls 13 at Craigielaw Golf Club.
Chandigarh’s Nihal Cheema (Boys 7 and under), shares the lead with two others after a round of 1-under 35 at Longniddry Golf Club, while Ahana Shah of Mumbai is on top in Girls 8 with a round of 1-under 35 at Longniddry and she shares the lead with one more player.
Much decorated Guntas Kaur Sandhu (74) in Girls 13 is tied second and Ojaswini Saraswat (72) in Girls 11 is tied third, while Manyaveer Bhadoo of Chandigarh is tied second among Boys 15-18 with 1-over 73.
Four other Indians Sohraab Singh Talwar (77, T-8) in Boys 10, Ishnidh Virdi (71, T-6) in Boys 14, Naina Kapur (73, T-4) in Girls 12 and Kriti Parekh (80, T-4) in Girls 14 are in Top-eight of their sections.
Among the leaders on the first day was Benji Botham in the Boys 8 category. Benji is the grandson of the legendary cricketer Ian Botham and Benji’s father, Liam, was a county cricketer, who also played Rugby.
Another name to note is Sabrina Wong, a Hong Kong player, who moved to Scotland for golf and was the youngest at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championships this year. She leads in the Girls 12 section.
Leading results in US Kids European Championships
(Indian results in bold)
Boys
Boys 7 and U: (Longniddry GC – Par 36): T-1 Nihal Cheema (Ind), Kristian Cernicky (Cze) and Walker Fowler (US) 35.
Boys 8 and U: (Longniddry GC – Par 36): 1. Benji Botham (GBR) 33; T-30 Samar Singh (Ind) 43.
Boys 9 and U: (Musselburgh – Par 72): 1. Cayssi Dunlop (Fra) 67; T-16 Drona Setlur (Ind) 79; T-37 Sahib Aujla (Ind) 90.
Boys 10 and U: (Craigielaw- Par 72): T-1. Parker Campbell (GBR) 73 and Victor Kornienko (Rus) 73; T-8 Sohraab Singh Talwar (Ind) 77; T-12 Adit Veeramachaneni (Ind) 79; T-29 Nikash Mansharamani (Ind) 83; T-42 Bavin Boyapati (Ind) 88.
Boys 11 and U: (Craigielaw- Par 72): 1. Leo Taylor (US) 68; T-20 Vidit Aggarwal (Ind) 78.
Boys 14 and U: (Glen GC – Par 72): 1. Colin Mcaskin (GBR) 68; T-6 Ishnidh Virdi (Ind) 71; T-16 Vivaan Aggarwal (Ind) and Aditya Joseph Kamath (Ind) 76; 33 Jivraj Khurana (Ind) 88.
Boys 15-18: (Craigielaw – Par 72): 1. Cole Slater (US) 71; T-2 Manyaveer Bhadoo (Ind) 73 and Albert Sykes (US) 73.
Girls
Girls 8 and U: (Longniddry GC – Par 36): T-1 Ahana Shah (Ind) and Jay Kang (US) 35; T-16 Naaysha S Sinha (Ind) 43.
Girls 9 (Longniddry GC Par 36): 1. Soleil Lindholm (US) 33; 23. Siri Sudeep (Ind) 53.
Girls 11: (Musselburgh – Par 72): 1. Stella Walters (US) 65; T-3. Ojaswini Saraswat (Ind) 72
Girls 12: (Glen GC – Par 72): 1. Sabrina Wong (HKG) 65; T-4. Naina Kapur (Ind) 73
Girls 13: (Craigielaw – Par 72): 1. Ananyaa Sood (Ind) 73; T-2 Guntas Kaur Sandhu (Ind) 74.
Girls 14: (Craigielaw – Par 72): 1. Hazel Peters (US) 76; T-4 Kriti Parekh (Ind) 80.
