Junior Strokeplay Championship race goes down to the wire
By Lucky Oluoch and Barry.Silah, August 17, 2023
It is a two-horse race for the 2023 Kenya Junior Strokeplay Championship after the third round of play at the Muthaiga golf club. Round one leader Krish Shah reclaimed the leader board in round three, dethroning overnight leader Mikael Kihara by only one stroke.
Kihara started the day with a one-shot lead over Shah, but the players were level on scores in the par 4 third hole where Kihara picked a bogey and Shah played level par.
They were level again at hole number 5 before the lead exchanged hands five times up to hole number 16. Kihara says a double bogey at hole number seven made all the difference in his scores.
“The ball striking up to that point wasn’t the best, so I was just trying to hold it together and not let him (Shah) get away with it. I hit the rough twice and made a double (bogey), but it happens,” explained Kihara.
Krish Shah picked three birdies, all in the second nine at number 13, 15 and 18. His only blemish was a bogey at hole 10 and 14.
“Day was good today, just a couple of mistakes in the first nine. Second nine was better, all the days I have played much better in the second nine.
Elsewhere, Ruaraka Sports Club odyssey continued for the eighth straight week following their 68 run win over hosts Nairobi Gymkhana Sunday in the Nairobi Provincial Cricket association (NPCA)-Super Division 50 Over Championship.
Gymkhana who opted to field in the opening innings after winning toss,did not do enough in the department as they let Ruaraka fly away with a score total of 220-10 in their allotted overs.
Hitendra Arvind Sanghani (15 runs off 33 balls) and four wickets in 42 runs was declared Player of the match for Ruaraka who lead the standings with 32 points after winning all eight games thus far in the season. Gymkhana’s Purohit Bharat (4 wicket in 42 runs) had great innings in the first phase as he helped slow down the runs numbers on the board.
Gymkhana after the break were dismissed for 152 all out had Purohit Bharat (44 runs off 65 balls) as the top-scorer with his contribution including six boundaries.
However, Bharat was later bowled out by Arvind Sanghani inside 17.6 overs after the delivery was expertly caught by Ajinkya Beloshe in the boundary line.
Hassan Lijodi coming in at number eight in the batting order for Gymkhana emerged second in the runs with 25 off 35 balls. Meanwhile, next door neighbours Sikh Union caused a major upset when they silenced heavyweights Swamibapa by 17 runs.