Defending champion Abhijit Chadha sounded a warning with a thunderous round of 10-under 62 to jump to the top of the leaderboard at the half-way stage of the Nepali Rs 4.8 million prize money Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd., Masters 2013 here today.
After shooting a 5-under 67 in the opening round, the 21-year-old was 15-under 129 for the tournament and led by two shots from overnight leader S Chikkarangappa who signed in a card of 69 today and a vastly improved Shankar Das who brought in a score of 7-under 65 for a 36-hole total of 13-under par 131. Mohd.
Dulal Hussain of Bangladesh, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Mohd. Sanju were all tied for the fourth place at 133.
While the leader was basking in glory, Manav Jaini stole a bit of a limelight when he aced the Surya Nepal Pvt. Ltd., Signature Hole no. 16 to win a cash prize of Rs 10,000, an award for the first player to make a hole-in-one on this hole.
Manav also earned Rs 20,000 instituted by PGTI.
Incidentally this is the second hole-in-one in as many days with Moin Malak having holed the par-3 13th in the opening round. Manav signed in a card of 66 to be tied for the seventh place along with Om Prakash Chouhan whose two-day total stood at 134.
Nepal's strongest contender Shivaram Shrestha added a 69 to his overnight 66 for a total of 9-under 135 that put him in the tied-ninth position along with Arshdeep Tiwana and Gaurav Ghei.
Amongst the other Nepalese players, Toran Bikram Shahi who shot 1-over 73, Umesh Nagarkoti who brought in a card of 2-under par and Yelamber Singh Adhikari with a level par 72 were all tied for the 39th place with a total of 141 and made the cut.
