Chikka wins a thriller at Surya Nepal Masters

Kathmandu: Overnight leader S Chikkarangappa clinched a thrilling play-off win against compatriot Shankar Das to lift the Surya Nepal Masters trophy here on Saturday.

Four youngsters -- Abhinav Lohan, Chikkarangappa, Abhijit Singh Chadha and Shankar -- jostled for the title with each one of them leading at certain stages of the final round. In the end, Shankar emerged the club house leader at 15-under. Overnight leader, Chikka, who had been written off while being two strokes behind the leader, made two birdies in the last three holes to get into a play-off with Shankar after both ended with a similar total of 15-under 273. Chikka beat the Kolkatan on the second play-off hole at the Gokarna Forest Resort here. Chikka walked away with the winner`s cheque of NRs 775,920 for his effort while Shankar was richer by NRs 535,920. Abhijit and Abhinav earned NRs 271,920 each for a share of third place. A little earlier, local hero Shivaram Shrestha raised the hopes of defending the title when he was two shots off the leader with two holes to go after having fired five birdies and an eagle against two bogeys. However, despite firing the day`s best score of five-under 67, the Nepal No.1 had to settle for the tied fifth position along with opening day leader Angad Cheema with both of them finishing at 13-under 275. Shamim Khan, who led at the end of 36-holes, finished seventh at 11-under 277 while Feroz Ali Mollah was eighth at 10-under 278. Former winner Ashbeer Saini matched the day`s best to catapult to the tied-ninth position along with Gulfam, Sanjay Kumar and Sanjay Lama who emerged as the second-best Nepali professional at eight-under 280. Bikas Bogati a trainee as the Surya Nepal NGA Youth Coaching Programme won the amateur title with a tally of 11-over 299 and finished in the tied-47th position overall with Sanjeev CK finishing runner-up, five strokes behind him.