Sumit Kotwal (Winner Men’s category) and Kashmira Shah (Winner Women’s category)
The 9th edition of the 54 hole Nepal Amateur Golf Tournament May 29-31 at the picturesque Gokarna Forest Resort in Kathmandu saw local players Subash Tamang and Sadbhav Acharya finish 2nd and 3rd behind 17 year old Bangalorean Sumit Kotwal who shot 13-under 203 to win by one shot.
However in the team event, Nepal’s top two of Subash and Sadbhav beat the Indian team of Kotwal and Suraj Joshi by a margin of 14 strokes.
Interestingly the two Nepal amateurs along with Kotwal, all train at Bangalore’s Tarun Sardesai Academy located at Zion Hills Golf club in Kolar.
Also curiously Subash Tamang enjoys a WAGR ranking of 187, which is higher than any Indian amateur anywhere in the world. His points have been primarily earned playing local events in Nepal – both amateur and professional. He has a 9th place finish at the 2023 Thailand Amateur Open to his credit.
In the women’s section, Kashmira Shah won the title with a total score of 18-over 234, shooting 76 in the final round. Sushma Sigdel finished second at 23-over 239 while Aaiesteena Tandan was third at 272.
A total of 51 golfers—44 men and seven women—took part in the tournament.
Tarun Sardesai honoured
Tarun Sardesai being honoured by the NGA officials
Bangalore based coach Tarun Sardesai was honoured by the Nepal Golf Association (NGA) during the award ceremony by Nepal Golf Association President Tashi Ghale and National Sports Council Member Secretary Tanka Lal Ghising for having contributed to Nepal golf by providing a scholarship to Nepal’s top amateur Subash Tamang. Tamang and fellow Nepal national team member Sadbhav Acharya have been undergoing training at TS Golf Academy in Bangalore, and Nepal’s number one professional golfer Sukra Bahadur Rai also attended the academy for a week last year.
Seeing the emergence of good Nepali golfers will be welcome and perhaps they too will participate on the Indian amateur and pro circuits soon.
Credits:-
Photo – Kathmandu Post