Gurugram, Oct 9 (IANS): Mahreen Bhatia, who had a great run last season, won her second straight title in the 2022-23 season of the U.S Kids Golf India Series at the Classic Golf and Country Resort this week. She was one of the three girls who won both the events held this week as Shambhavi Chaturvedi returned to winning ways in Girls 11-12.
Amaira Gupta won both times in the Girls Under-6 and Aarushi Chawhan stayed a winner in Girls 15-18.
The competition for boys saw six repeat winners. The younger age groups saw Nihal Cheema (U-6), Kabir Goyal (U-7) and Jot Sarup (U-8) turn in consistent rounds to win a second time.
Adit Veeramachaneni (U-9), Chaitanya Pandey (U-11) and Manyaveer Bhadoo (15-18) were impressive as they ensured a second gold medal.
The two new winners in the Girls in Leg 2 included Shambhavi Chaturvedi (11-12) and Rabab Kahlon (9-10).
Among the Boys, the new winners were Dhruv Singh (U-10), Jivraj Khurana (U-12) and Udai Aditya Middha (13-14).
The two legs of US Kids Golf India had almost 75 golfers each day. It included four young Korean golfers Hamin Lee (3rd in Girls U-8), Hayoun Roh (4th in Girls U-8), Haeun Kwon (4th in Girls 9-10) and Jungwoo Lee (2nd in Boys U-8).
There were Indian golfers from around 15 different states and UTs.
Shambhavi Chaturvedi, one of the runaway successes of the previous season with six wins, got back to winning by beating Coonoor golfer Kriti Parekh, who won Leg 1. Shambhavi, who took part in the World Championships in the US earlier this year, carded 75 playing off a yardage of 4425 yards, while Kriti shot 79. In leg 1, Kriti shot 75 and Shambhavi had 77.
Mahreen, a student from Pathways School, Gurugram, who was Tied-13 at the European Championships, was consistent, shooting 76 on both days while playing off 5173 yards. Mahreen won each of the legs she played last season and is trying to keep that record going.
Amaira stayed on top for the second event in a row over the nine-hole competition for the Under-6 girls. In both events, Mohali youngster Gairat Kahlon was second.
Even as six of nine boys categories produced repeat winners, Chaitanya Pandey (U 11) and Adit Veeramachaneni of Bangalore stood out. They maintained a good scoring level. Pandey followed up his first leg of 73 with a 72 in Leg 2. Adit had 69 in Leg 1 and 72 in Leg 2 as he pushed Sohrab Singh Talwar of Mohali (72 and 76) to second both times.
Udai Singh Middha, second to Ranveer Dhupia in Leg 1, won in Boys 13-14, which had the most participants.
Middha, who plans to go to Thailand for an event soon, scored 78 off 6153 yards in Leg 1 and improved to 76 in Leg 2. Arshvant, fourth in Leg 1, moved up to second despite a disappointing finish, alongside Ansh Dube, in Leg 2. Ranveer won in Leg 1, but dropped to 5th in Leg 2.
Jivraj Khurana, (Boys 12) after a disappointing Leg 1 won Leg 2 while the consistent Prince Bainsla, winner of Leg 1, was second in Leg 2.
Dhruv Singh (Boys 10) improved from 87 to 78, while Aditya Misra, winner of Leg 1 to third. Rajveer Suri, the winner of six events last season, was second both times this week.
Gairat's sister, Rabab, got her revenge for Leg 1 where she was second to Naina Kapoor, by winning Leg 2. Rabab showed fine improvement from 84 to 75 while playing off 3835 yards for Girls 9-10. Naina scored 76 while winning Leg 1 and shot 78 in Leg 2.