Ghei bites the dust

Top seed and defending champion Gaurav Ghei and third seed Vivek Bhandari were toppled in the quarter-finals while fourth-seed Ali Sher lost in the third round. Ghei went down to the ninth seed Shiv Prakash 2 and 1. Bhandari was upset by Amritinder Singh with scores reading 4 and 3.

On a day when the underdogs ruled the roost, Vijay Kumar just managed to survive an Akbar Ali scare. Akbar went into the lead, winning the 4th and 6th. Vijay took the fifth and was one under after the front nine. The second-seeded Vijay had a better return journey winning the 11th, 13th and 15th. They halved the 16th before Akbar won the 17th with a birdie.

On the last hole, Akbar had a bad second tee shot which landed on the bunker. He further harmed his chances with a bad chip which ended on the edge of the green. Vijay played it safe, two-putting from eight feet to par the hole. Akbar who needed a birdie then, was unlucky when his eight-feet putt stopped at the lip of the cup.

The giant killer yesterday Jumman (Delhi), lost to Calcutta’s Inderjit Bhalotia by four holes after the 16th (4/3). “I got two tigers today,” said a pleased Bhalotia suggesting his wins over Jumman and Ali Sher (3rd round), both of whom are nicknamed `Tiger’.

Bhalotia was two-up after the front nine and later went on to win the 11th, 12th and 14th. Jumman was a far cry from his second round effort when he upset fifth seed Feroz Ali with a 6/4 margin.

Shiv Prakash surprisingly had no problems beating top seed Gaurav Ghei, who is undergoing treatment for viral fever. Ghei admitted that he was never in the game. “I was physically drained after the third round match in the morning. Shiv was playing very well and I ended up chasing him all the time,” he said.

Delhi’s Vivek Bhandari also went down tamely to Amritinder Singh. The 25-year-old Amritinder was in terrific form going three-up after the first nine holes. He won the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th and 9th Bhandari admitted that it was a day he would love to forget. “I was putting very badly today. And after losing the 7th, 8th and 9th hole I just caved in.”

Earlier in the third round, eventual semi-finalist Bhalotia shocked the fourth seed and twice Indian Open Champion Ali Sher, 3/2. Arjun Singh, runner-up at the last week’s BPGC Open, here dissapointed after convincing wins in the first two rounds. He lost to Akbar Ali on the 18th.