Ajeetesh stays in lead at Golconda Masters LEADERBOARD

Ajeetesh Sandhu maintained his strong start as he hit 12-under-130 to earn the bragging rights over Shubhankar Sharma — who hit 10-under-132 — at the end of Day Two of the Golconda Masters being played at the Hyderabad Golf Course in the city on Friday.

While Chandigarh-lad Ajeetesh, who had fired a phenomenal opening round of nine-under-62 — a course record — kept his two-stroke lead for the second day running as he battled to a three-under-68, Gurgaon’s Shubhankar submitted a second successive five-under-66 to be hot on the leader’s heels.

Meanwhile, the cut fell at one-over-143. Fifty-two professionals made the cut. Both the Hyderabad-based 130: Ajeetesh Sandhu (6268); 132: Shubhankar Sharma (66-66); 133: Feroz Ali Mollah ( 68- 65); 134: Anura Rohana ( 65- 69), Manu Gandas ( 69- 65), Shankar Das (67-67); 135: Mukesh Kumar ( 70- 65), Akshay Sharma (67-68), R. Murthy ( 69- 66), Khalin Joshi (68-67). professionals, Sanjay Kumar Singh and H Sunil Kumar, missed the cut. All six amateurs from Hyderabad also missed the cut.

Ajeetesh (62-68) had a forgettable start on Day Two as he dropped three strokes on the first two holes. Having misjudged the wind he found the water on the first for a double-bogey and then suffered a lapse in con- centration on the second green where he let a birdie opportunity slip away and instead landed up with a bogey.

The 27-year-old Sandhu then staged a valiant comeback with a magical run of six straight birdies from the sixth to the 11th. He pocketed strokes on the three par-5s on this stretch and also made tap-ins on a couple of par-3s thanks to some top-class tee shots.

The former winner on the Professional Golf Tour of India added another birdie to his card on the 14th before missing one of his shortest putts of the day for a bogey on the 18th.

Shubhankar (66-66) kept himself in contention for a second straight title as he climbed from overnight tied fourth to second place after punctuating his round with six birdies and a bogey. Doha, Feb. 26: World number one doubles pairing Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza lost for the first time in 41 matches, at the Qatar Open on Thursday.

They went down 2-6, 6-4, 10-5 to Russian pair Elena Vesnina and Daria Kasatkina in the quartefinals.

Prior to the defeat in Doha, the last time the pair, who have won three doubles Grand Slams in a row, had lost was way back in Cincinatti last August.

The all-conquering pair had already shown signs they were struggling this week in Doha, having edged through the previous round in three sets. But their luck finally ran out against the Russians despite a dominant first set performance. Prior to Qatar, their form this year has been magnificent and the IndoSwiss pairing have already won four titles, including titles in Brisbane and St Petersburg. — Agencies