By IANS
Kolkata : On a day when things went according to the script except for minor upsets, 12th seed Gagan Verma upset fifth seed H.S. Kang to advance to the quarterfinal stage of the Goodricke Eastern India Amateur, an event on the LG Indian Amateur Golf calendar.
After a seesaw battle, Gagan clinched the issue on the 17th hole at the par-72 Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) here Saturday.
In the other results, top seed Abhishek Jha quelled the challenge of local star Sudeep Chitlangia comfortably two and one while fourth seed Tarun Gogale beat Karan Singh three and two. Sri Lankan top amateur Mithun Perera ranked 11th for the tournament created a minor ripple upsetting another local and sixth seed Sanjeev Mehra two and one.
In the match between Gagan and Kang, the former lost the opening hole but won the next to restore parity. The sequence was repeated on the next two holes. Gagan went ahead for the first time on the sixth but Kang equalized by the eighth and went ahead on the 10th. However after squaring on the 11th, Gagan never looked back as he gained the advantage on the 13th and sealed the issue on the 17th.
In another interesting match, 15th seed Mohammed Dulal Hussain from Bangladesh, who had a hole-in-one in the LG RCGC Cup, survived some tense moments against 31st ranked Raja Sardar before clinching the issue on the 19th hole. Raja who knows the course like the back of his hand was 3-up after five. But Dulal fought back to square exactly at the half-way stage. With one hole to go, and one hole down, Dulal managed to win the final hole and also the play-off hole to emerge victorious.
Top results: 1-Abhisekh Jha bt 17-Sudeep Chitlangia 2 & 1; 24-Vikram Rana bt 25-Karan Vasudeva 1-up; 4-Tarun Gogale bt 13-Karan Singh 3 & 2; 11-Mithun Perara bt 6-Sanjeev Mehra 2 & 1; 12-Gagan Verma bt 5-H.S. Kang 2 & 1; 15-Md. Dulal Hussain bt 31-Raja Sardar 19th hole; 7-Jasjeet Singh bt 10-Pawan Kumar 5 & 3; 30-Samresh Sardar bt 14-Col. Lakra 1-up.