Navratna Ahmedabad lift Louis Philippe Cup

Mumbai, Feb 22 (IANS) The Navratna Ahmedabad golfing team claimed top honours in the Rs.1.2 crore Louis Philippe Cup on Saturday.

The Ahmedabad team sidelined strong contenders Puravankara Bangalore by a 2-1 margin in the strokeplay final played at the par-70 Bombay Presidency Golf Club here Saturday.

Navratna owe much of their success to Sri Lankan pro Mithun Perera, who sunk a crucial birdie on the par-5 18th hole to finish with a card of 2-under-68 and score over M. Dharma, who made some costly mistakes including a triple bogey on the par-4 9th hole.

However, Dharma still managed to complete the round with a score of 1-under-69 to lose narrowly. Perera completed a hat-trick of titles in three weeks having won the Eagleburg Open in Bangalore and Standard Chartered Open in Colombo.

Earlier, Navratna captain Vikrant Chopra lost the opening singles to Anirban Lahiri. The Bangalore professional made five birdies and an equal number of bogeys for a par score of 70 while Chopra had just two birdies and three bogeys to finish at 71.

In the second singles, Ahmedabad’s Vinod Kumar put a good performance of the back nine, hitting four birdies for a score of 2-under-68 while rival Chikkarangappa fired three birdies and dropped two shots for a card of 1-under-69.

Himmat Rai came up with a late charge to help Krrish Colombo turn the tables on AVT Kolkata in the third place match. Trailing by three shots against Shankar Das and with just three holes remaining, Himmat stamped hit two successive birdies before signing off with a neat eagle to clinch the match in his favour.

The 26-year-old Rai, with a score of 71, defeated Das (72). K. Prabagaran (71) lost to Rahil Gangjee (67) before N. Thangaraja (70) overcame Chiragh Kumar (71) in the third singles.

The Ahmedabad team received the winners cheque of Rs.36 lakh while Bangalore pocketed Rs.24 lakh. Krrish Colombo went home richer by Rs.18 lakh.